Think Africa Press wrote a pertinent last week highlighting the perplexities around the commonly accepted, social notion that “poverty will always be with us”.  As a public health practitioner and global health “anti-poverty” advocate, I agree this notion needs to be challenged.  Thinking about poverty as an undifferentiated group of people without intrinsic strength to rise above circumstance is not an adequate response to fighting the war on poverty or a helpful logic to frame the debate around how to address poverty and the mire of complexities the term poverty evokes.  In order to address poverty more effectively in our society today, the commonly accepted social notion that “poverty will always be with us” needs to become a more proactive, community-enabling and mobilizing conviction-“we may not be able to end poverty indefinitely, but we can certainly end pieces of it”.

A “piece” of poverty we can see the end of in our life-times today involves neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).  These are a group of seventeen diseases that plague the poorest communities in our world today.  Over a billion people are infected with one or more NTDs and the majority of these people live on less than $2 per day.  Not only are NTDs found in what I like to call “poverty pockets” in our society, but these diseases keep people trapped in poverty by prohibiting productivity of those infected.  NTDs can result in child deaths, severe anemia affecting pregnant women and young children, nutritional deficiencies, cognitive development challenges and ultimately loss of productivity. These diseases have major implications for working families and children trying to attend school on a regular basis. NTDs are linked to poverty and scaling up treatment and control programs for these diseases will not only lift populations out of poverty, but will help achieve the Millennium Development Goals to help meet the needs of those in poverty (explained more in depth by Development Progress here).

Treating and controlling NTD is known as a “best-buy” in public health – offering low cost interventions and yielding high returns for populations. Yet NTDs still thrive in our world today for many complex and often interconnected reasons.  For example, some countries lack the political commitment to prioritize health and NTD control within their countries. In other countries, populations face infrastructure challenge and leadership is missing. With lack of infrastructure, lack of access to clean water and sanitation system allow NTDs to thrive. In order to address NTDs, we need strong political champions and integrated approaches to controlling and treating these diseases.

There is so much to learn about NTDs and why they are allowed to persist in are world today.  But one message is clear and also was re-iterated recently by the United Nations secretary general Ban Ki Moon: “Poverty reduction and the elimination of NTDs go hand-in-hand.”  And in the words of Bill Gates in his recent Annual Letter, “The belief that the world can’t solve extreme poverty and disease isn’t just mistaken. It is harmful. “ If the international community wants to address poverty, NTDs is a piece of this conversation and a piece of poverty we can work to end.

Follow and for more on the conversation about poverty, health and NTDs.