Just last week, the World Bank released a new video to give people an understanding of who are “the world’s extreme poor.”

These are the approximately 1.2 billion individuals who live off a budget of less than $1.25 per day. To break it down even further: 2.5 billion lack access to basic sanitation; 800 million don’t have access to clean water, and nearly 3 out of 4 live in rural areas that lack necessary access to basic resources.

While these facts are often jarring, we’re still making progress compared to just over two decades ago, when 1.9 billion people lived in extreme poverty. China and India have been among those progressing by respectively reducing their poverty rate from 84% and 60% in 1981 to 12% and 33% in 2010.

The poverty rate is a reflection of international living standards that determine the physical infrastructure of inhabiting environments, economic security and growth, access to education, gender equality and physical health and well-being.

And, these populations in extreme poverty are exactly the same people who are vulnerable to the seven most common neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).

Communities that struggle within the climate of extreme poverty often rely on infected water and poor sanitation standards that are more likely to expose them to disease and illnesses. These individuals lack the proper tools and resources necessary to sustain safe environments. Many of these vulnerable populations also live further away from city hubs that would provide them with access to facilities, such as health clinics. Thus further debilitating a perpetual cycle of sickness and poverty.

NTDs have curbed individuals’ health and long exposure to infections can cause lifelong disabilities and even death. However, with the help of international and national institutions and organizations, it now only costs 50 cents to treat a person for up to one year. NTD treatment programs not only represent global health benefits for the developing nation, but also provide cost-effective solutions to reducing poverty on an international scale.

There’s no magical remedy for poverty and while it takes improvements to many aspects of development, real, lasting change can be achieved by working together in an integrated, committed fashion.