Today is World Health Day, and the global community is calling attention to the immense harm caused by diseases spread by  mosquitoes, sand flies and snails — also referred to as vector-borne diseases.

As part of this effort, Global Network managing director, Neeraj Mistry, highlighted the debilitating effect of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) in a CNN editorial.

“Human history is closely linked to diseases carried by vectors such as the sand flies at the heart of blinding and disfiguring diseases referenced during biblical times, fleas responsible for bubonic plague in Medieval Europe, and the mosquitoes that carry one of today’s most well-known diseases, malaria.

What most people don’t know, however, is that there are several other vector-borne diseases that have a staggering impact on the world’s poorest people. Called neglected tropical diseases, or NTDs, this group of parasitic and bacterial infections plagues one in six people worldwide, including more than 500 million children.”

To read the full editorial, click here. You can spread the word on Twitter by using the hashtags #WorldHealthDay and #JustOneBite.