By Lawrencia Mensah
Accra, Feb. 02, GNA – Mrs Joyce Aryee, an Ambassador for Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) says Tropical Diseases must be treated as such and not as ‘Neglected’ because no disease should be forgotten.
Mrs. Aryee said this in a statement at the World NTD Day launch at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Accra.
She said providing universal access to high-quality healthcare meant that no diseases must be forgotten or overlooked.
“The focus of this campaign is that every person in this country deserves good healthcare and good health care means that no disease should be forgotten or overlooked,” she stressed.
She urged healthcare practitioners, especially medical professionals to become activists to help eradicate tropical diseases.
NTD stigma, Mrs. Aryee said, was one of the factors contributing to the country’s continued suffering from those diseases.
According to her, when stigmatisation worsened, infected persons found it difficult to get reputable jobs to support their families and made it very difficult for children to remain in school.
The NTD Ambassador said that had contributed to increase in the prevalence of poverty.
Dr Kofi Asamani, the programmes Manager for NTDs, pleaded for NTDs to be involved in the global health agenda so that the “N” could be eliminated.
He appealed to the Government and global funding agencies to help provide resources for the elimination of the diseases.
Neglected Tropical Diseases are a diverse group of 20 conditions that are mainly prevalent in tropical areas.
They mostly affect impoverished communities and disproportionately affect women and children.
These diseases cause devastating health, social and economic consequences to more than one billion people worldwide.
GNA