Health experts have raised concern over the continued prevalence of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) in Nigeria, warning that thousands, especially in rural areas, are still suffering blindness, deformities, pain and poverty from preventable infections.
Speaking at a media sensitisation session, North East Zonal Coordinator NTDs, Hajiya Hauwa Abubakar of the Federal Ministry of Health identified major NTDs still ravaging communities, to include river blindness, trachoma, schistosomiasis, lymphatic filariasis, and soil-transmitted helminths.
She explained that these diseases thrive in environments with unsafe water, poor sanitation, open defecation and frequent contact with contaminated rivers and soil.
