In a landmark moment for global health and human rights, African countries spearheaded the first-ever resolution adopted by the United Nations Human Rights Council, formally recognizing the profound and inseparable links between human rights and neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).
The historic resolution was led by the Republic of Malawi, alongside a core group of African Member States including Burkina Faso, Kenya, Tanzania, the Gambia and Morocco. It marks the first time NTDs have been formally addressed through a dedicated Human Rights Council resolution – elevating these diseases beyond the health sector and recognizing them as issues of dignity, equity, inclusion, and justice. The adoption represents a major milestone in the global fight against NTDs and a powerful acknowledgment that the more than one billion people affected by these diseases can no longer be left behind.
NTDs are both caused by and drive human rights challenges. Poverty, unsafe water, inadequate housing, poor sanitation, discrimination, and limited access to healthcare create the conditions in which NTDs thrive. In turn, these diseases can cause disability, disfigurement, stigma, exclusion from education and employment, lost income, and preventable death – trapping individuals and communities in cycles of inequality and marginalization.
