The role of gender, health equity and human rights in the fight against neglected tropical diseases

Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are typified by their prevalence among the poor, excluded, and marginalised within society. NTDs continue to persist because individuals within endemic regions experience a healthcare system that is, either directly or indirectly, inequitable. To ensure NTDs are managed in a way that is sustainable in the long term, the underlying societal inequalities which allow them to persist must be first understood.

This report presents the ways in which human rights, health inequity, and sex and gender inequality intersect with NTDs and, in turn, how the acknowledgement of this intersection can inform future healthcare policy. Accordingly, this report offers recommendations on how WHO’s NTD 2030 Roadmap can be used to tackle the inequalities that underlie NTDs.

Prepared by: Simone R. de Rijk, Katherine M. Klemperer, Delphine M. Depierreux, Ziruo Fu and Kirsty M. L. Mackinlay (University of Cambridge)

Supervised by: Robert F. Terry and Pamela S. Mbabazi (World Health Organization)

Read the report here.