Where human rights, such as the rights to health, education, safe drinking water and sanitation and housing are not guaranteed, neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are more likely to occur. They are a group of 21 preventable and treatable diseases that affect about 1.495 billion people around the world. NTDs cause visible disability, stigma, which directly affect dignity, equality, education, work, prosperity and social participation.
What is the link between NTDs and human rights?
NTDs are both a cause and consequence of human rights violations. NTDs often result in violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including equality and non-discrimination. Addressing the human rights issues that cause or come about as a result of NTDs has an important role in helping to prevent and treat these diseases, as well as in ensuring the dignity and well-being of those afflicted. As the World Health Organisation has stated in the 2030 NTD Roadmap, “All services for NTDs should be based on gender equity and human rights”. Embedding this principle in policy and practice can help ensure that responses are more inclusive, equitable, and effective.
NTDs most commonly affect individuals who often live in remote communities and experience extreme poverty. People afflicted by NTDs are at a heightened risk of violations of their human rights, including the rights to health, life, non-discrimination, privacy, work, education, and to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress. In addition to causing approximately 120,000 deaths and 14.1 million disability adjusted life years (DALYs) lost annually, NTDs cost developing communities the equivalent of billions of United States dollars each year. The economic burden for these individuals to access care and medication frequently causes loss of education, loss of productivity and livelihood. Coupled with the often-high costs that come with long-term care and out of pocket expenditure, NTDs perpetuate the cycle of poverty and ill-health for the individuals affected.
These impacts underscore the need for a shift in how NTDs are addressed. While traditional approaches focus on disease control, a human rights-based approach addresses the underlying inequalities that allow NTDs to persist, strengthens accountability, and ensures that those most affected are reached—requiring governments to provide equitable access to prevention, treatment, and care, address stigma and discrimination, and prioritize the most marginalized populations.
How prioritizing NTDs on the human rights agenda can strengthen global action
NTDs have gained increasing recognition across global and regional health and development agendas and frameworks in recent years, but this progress has not yet translated into a comprehensive human rights response. Currently, NTDs are included in several global agreements including SDG target 3.3, the Kigali Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases, Leaders’ Communiques of the G7 and G20, Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings (CHOGM), The Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD), Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), The Continental Framework on the Control and Elimination of Neglected Tropical Diseases, the Common Africa Position, the WHO’s global NTD road map(2021–2030), and the African Union (AU) Roadmap to 2030 amongst others.
However, while welcome, they do not directly address the core human rights of those living with NTDs. To date, attention to NTDs within the Human Rights Council and its mechanisms has focused solely on leprosy. Several studies, resolutions and reports made by the Council since 2009 have been devoted to the elimination of discrimination against persons affected by leprosy and their family members, and while this is welcome, no other NTD has received the same level of focus. There has, therefore, never been a Human Rights Council resolution on NTDs collectively. Yet elevating NTDs within the human rights system presents a critical opportunity to strengthen impact.
