By: Alanna Shaikh

I don’t know about you, but I’ve found world news to be pretty depressing this week. It seemed like a good time to remind ourselves that things do improve, and we can change global health for the better. I therefore offer you four NTD success stories:

1.       Guinea Worm, aka Dracunculiasis, is on the verge of being eradicated. It is, as you may recall, one of the most wiggly and revolting NTDs, consisting of a giant worm that lives inside you and has to be removed manually and with excruciating slowness. And we’re going to make it the third disease ever to be eradicated.[1] We’ve gone from 3.5 million cases of guinea worm in 1986 to under 5000 in 2009. How awesome is that?[2]

2.       Leprosy is being reduced in a big way. 14.5 million people have been cured of leprosy since 1985. (Yes, cured. Leprosy is a bacterial infection and doesn’t stand a chance against strong antibiotics.) It’s now a problem in only seven countries. [3] It’s a disease to old — it was mentioned in the Bible, and we’re getting rid of it most likely within our lifetime.

3.       China eliminated lymphatic filariasis in 2007. Also known as elephantiasis, lymphatic filariasis makes your limbs swell up to enormous proportions. It causes intense pain, and, obviously, disfigurement. And now it’s gone from China. Boom![4]

4.       2007 was a good year for NTDs.[5] It also saw the elimination of onchocerciasis in Colombia. It was the result of effective action from the government of Colombia and donations of ivermectin from twice-annual mass drug administration of ivermectin to people at risk for the disease. The program became a model for Latin American and was an example of mass drug administration as an effective approach to eliminating onchocerciasis. It’s been copied all over the world.

Insofar as there is a bright side to NTDs, this is it: we can fight them and win. We’ve done it before, and we’ll do it again.

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[1] You’re thinking it will be the second disease to be eradicated, aren’t you? Well, you’re forgetting rinderpest. Sure, rinderpest isn’t a human disease, but I think we can agree it’s a good thing if cattle don’t get diarrhea, oral erosions, and necrosis and then die.

[2]Harshing the vibe somewhat – slightly less awesomely, this had to be achieved through changing human behavior because we still don’t have any really effective treatments for Guinea Worm disease. We’ll keep that down here in the fine print so we don’t ruin the happy. And when you consider it, behavior change on that level is pretty awesome too.

[3] For the record, leprosy does not actually cause limbs to fall off, although it can make them numb. We’re not talking zombies here.

[4] Yeah, I don’t know. Boom just seemed like a happy thing to write. The actually eradication process took years of diligent effort and was not boom-like at all. There is almost no boom in global health.

[5] Well, a bad year for the diseases; a good year for the people who might get them.

Alanna Shaikh is an expert in health consulting, writing about global health for UN Dispatch and about international relief and development at Blood & Milk. She also serves as a frequently contributing blogger to ‘End the Neglect.’ The views and opinions expressed by guest bloggers are not necessarily the views and opinions of the Global Network. All opinions expressed here are Alanna’s own and not those of any employer or the US government.