The government has set aside Sh465 million to contain neglected diseases in the next five years.
Acting Director of Medical Services Jackson Kioko said the diseases are a major contributor to poverty in most parts of the country.
The Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) are chronic, disabling and disfiguring conditions that occur in areas with extreme poverty, especially among the rural poor and some disadvantaged urban populations. Today, the world’s greatest concentration of poverty occurs in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).
Donor funding
Speaking yesterday during the launch of the second national strategic plan for neglected tropical diseases, Kioko said eradicating poverty would be a hard task if the diseases are not contained.
“So far, we have only been able to deal with three neglected diseases and for the country to eradicate all of them, areas affected need to be targeted through allocation of enough resources,” he said.
World Health Organisation (WHO) Officer in charge of Kenya Dr Nathan Bakyaita called for more donor support to manage the diseases saying donors “think that the diseases are too old and do not deserve as much attention.
“Most people who get tropical diseases suffer and die in silence at homes. The donor funding towards these diseases is something that needs to be emphasised as this is also another way we can achieve the target of eradicating them by 2020,” he said.
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