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The purpose of this indicator is to identify how much of the population is affected and seeking treatment for tropical diseases.

The average annual number of people requiring treatment and care for NTDs is the number that is expected to decrease toward “the end of NTDs” by 2030 (target 3.3), as NTDs are eradicated, eliminated or controlled. The number of people requiring other interventions against NTDs (e.g. vector management, veterinary public health, water, sanitation and hygiene) are expected to need to be maintained beyond 2030 and are therefore to be addressed in the context of other targets and indicators, namely Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and universal access to water and sanitation.

Ministry of Health

Ministry of Health

Annual

Number of people requiring treatment and care for any one of the neglected tropical diseases

This number should not be interpreted as the number of people at risk for NTDs. It is in fact a subset of the larger number of people at risk. Mass treatment is limited to those living in districts above a threshold level of prevalence; it does not include all people living in districts with any risk of infection. Individual treatment and care is for those who are or have already been infected; it does not include all contacts and others at risk of infection. This number can better be interpreted as the number of people at a level of risk requiring medical intervention – that is, treatment and care for NTDs.

Treatment and care is broadly defined to allow for preventive, curative, surgical or rehabilitative treatment and care. In particular, it includes both:

1.  Average annual number of people requiring mass treatment known as preventive chemotherapy (PC) for at least one PC-NTD; and
2.  Number of new cases requiring individual treatment and care for other NTDs.

is by disease is required, and by age.

The maximum of 1) or 2) is therefore retained at the lowest common implementation unit and summed to get conservative country, regional and global aggregates.

1. Average annual number of people requiring mass treatment known as PC for at least one PC-NTD: People may require PC for more than one PC-NTD.
2. Number of new cases requiring individual treatment and care for other NTDs: The number of new cases is based on country reports, whenever available, of new and known cases of Buruli ulcer, Chagas disease, cysticercosis, dengue, guinea-worm disease, echinococcosis, human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), leprosy, the leishmaniases, rabies and yaws. Where the number of people requiring and requesting surgery for PC-NTDs (e.g. trichiasis or hydrocele surgery) is reported, it can be added here. Similarly, new cases requiring and requesting rehabilitation (e.g. leprosy or lymphoedema) can be added whenever available.

Indicator is to be used by the Ministry of Health to assist in promotion of correctly prescribing practices and adherence to treatment and in strengthening routine surveillance by collecting epidemiological information related to cases detected and transmission routes.

Country reports may not be perfectly comparable over time. Improved surveillance and case-finding may lead to an apparent increase in the number of people known to require treatment and care. Some further estimation may be required to adjust for changes in surveillance and case-finding.

All the metadata shown in this document was gathered from United Nation Statistics Division. The metadata was extracted from https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata/.