The United States government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), congratulates the Government of Togo today for adopting a strategic, sustainable plan designed to aid the country in its fight against neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).
NTDs are a group of parasitic, bacterial, and viral diseases that disproportionately affect poor and marginalized populations. The diseases are debilitating, stigmatizing, and can cause life-long disability. The diseases are also preventable and treatable with safe and effective interventions that can control and ultimately eliminate the disease. Seven million Togolese are at risk of infection of at least one NTD.
A health worker uses a dose pole to determine the amount of medicine to give an individual in Togo. Credit: Act to End NTDs West
Togo’s Ministry of Health, Public Hygiene and Universal Access to Care led the development of the sustainability plan with support from other government sectors and local partners. Robust, sustainable systems are critical to ensure that progress is being made against NTDs and that diseases do not return. The newly validated sustainability plan details the Government’s key priorities, strategies, and benchmarks to move the program towards a sustainably resourced strategy in order to reach NTD goals.
Togo has made significant progress against NTDs through implementing large-scale treatment programs, intensive disease monitoring, and managing chronic morbidities. The World Health Organization validated Togo as eliminating lymphatic filariasis in 2017 and sleeping sickness in 2020. Togo was the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to eliminate each of these diseases. USAID has provided support in Togo to help end five of the most common and burdensome NTDs since 2009.