Kenya has intensified its fight against Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), with the goal of eliminating four diseases by 2030 in line with the World Health Organization (WHO) roadmap.
The collaborative efforts focus on lymphatic filariasis, commonly known as elephantiasis, which is close to elimination as a public health problem by 2028, following consistent mass drug administration that has effectively halted transmission.
Other diseases targeted for elimination include bilharzia (schistosomiasis), onchocerciasis (river blindness), and trachoma.
The progress was revealed on Friday during celebrations commemorating World Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) Day at the KCB Grounds in Kajiado County. The event brought together national and county governments, development partners, and community stakeholders to spotlight the disproportionate impact of NTDs on the world’s poorest and most marginalised populations, who account for nearly one billion people globally.
The Ministry of Health, together with key partners, reaffirmed its commitment to raising awareness of the burden of NTDs and accelerating efforts to control, eliminate, and eventually eradicate them. Most importantly, stakeholders called for a unified and coordinated approach to achieve the set goals.
Kenya has already eliminated Guinea worm disease and Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT), also known as sleeping sickness, in 2018 and 2025, respectively.
“We have already demonstrated that it is possible to end these diseases. With guinea worm and sleeping sickness eliminated, the key message for us is that if we unite the way we have over the last decade, and build on the progress we are making, there is no reason why we should not eliminate bilharzia, elephantiasis, onchocerciasis, and trachoma in the next couple of years,” said Amref Health Africa County Director, Meshack Ndirangu.
“These are four diseases that, working collaboratively as a country, we should be able to eliminate some of them even before 2030,” he emphasised.
Similar sentiments were echoed by WHO Technical Advisor for NTDs, Dr Joyce Onsongo.
“We are not done yet. We must keep pushing until the burden of Neglected Tropical Diseases is fully removed. These are not just neglected diseases. They affect neglected people, often the poorest and most vulnerable communities,” she said.
“Ending NTDs is about removing suffering, reducing poverty, and restoring dignity. We have the tools, the knowledge, and the medicines. What we need now is united action from national and county governments, partners, communities, the private sector, and individuals. Together, we can end these diseases and ensure no one is left behind,” she added.
Some of the key interventions being implemented include the deployment of community health promoters (CHPs), who serve as the frontline workforce. They conduct community surveillance, distribute medication, and raise awareness at the household level.
Amref Health Africa, which runs programmes in 23 Counties, is a key partner supporting the government’s NTD elimination agenda. The organisation has been instrumental in implementing precision mapping and targeting approaches that identify exact locations with higher disease prevalence.
Part of the gains achieved have been attributed to the work of community health promoters. For example, in four counties supported by Amref, the prevalence of intestinal worms dropped significantly last year.
“In four counties where we work, just last year, we delivered working with community health promoters more than six million doses to six million people. As a result, the proportion of people with intestinal worms declined from 15 percent to 3 percent. That is a drop from five out of every 30 people to just one out of 30,” Ndirangu said.
The use of data enhanced by artificial intelligence models has also played a major role in these efforts, enabling the government and partners to utilise limited resources more efficiently by targeting disease hotspots.
Beyond the borders
Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale, in remarks delivered on his behalf by Kenya National Public Health Institute (KNPHI) Acting Director General, Dr Kamene Kimeny,e underscored the importance of cross-border collaboration in tackling NTDs.
“Cross-border collaboration is a key focus of today’s commemoration. Kenya remains committed to working with our neighbours particularly Tanzania, to strengthen surveillance, align service delivery, support mobile populations, and ensure continuity of care. Elimination in one country is only sustainable when progress is shared across borders”, he pointed out.
Complementary interventions, including behaviour change campaigns and improvements in integrated water, sanitation and hygiene infrastructure have been implemented to accelerate elimination efforts and sustain the progress made.
EXPLAINER
Neglected tropical diseases comprise a diverse group of infections caused by parasites, bacteria, viruses, fungi, and toxins. They are closely linked to poverty and thrive in tropical and sub-tropical regions, perpetuating ill health, stigma, and economic hardship among vulnerable and hard-to-reach communities.
Although many NTDs are preventable, they can be fatal if not treated. A case in point is the biggest kala-azar outbreak reported last year in Wajir and Mandera counties, where a number of people, especially children under the age of five, died.
Michael Ofire, Programmes Manager at Amref Health Africa, is now calling for the use of artificial intelligence to predict outbreaks early, in order to prevent deaths rather than relying on reactive responses
At the same time, he hails the CHPs noting that in some instances they have been able to identify cases that could not detect through data systems.
“The community health promoters are critical. In some cases, they identify infections that do not appear in the data, allowing us to intervene early and save lives,” he said.
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