By Elie Mutangana.

On January 30, Rwanda joined the rest of the world to celebrate ‘World Neglected Tropical Diseases and Leprosy Day, reviewed tremendous strides made in curbing the NTDs, and emphasized holistic approaches towards eliminating them by 2030.

This year’s celebration, with the theme” Unite, Act, and Eliminate,” was held in Rurambi marshland, located in the Mwogo and Juru sectors of Bugesera District.

According to officials, the NTDs have become a global health concern, especially in poor and marginalized communities, including sub-Saharan Africa.

Dr Albert Tuyishime, Head of Diseases prevention and Control Department at Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC) said, Rwanda realized the scourges of NTDs to its population, stoop up and took actions with a sense of urgency.

“NTDs constrain social and economic development of communities, not only in Rwanda but also in other vulnerable areas. They can lead to stunting in among young children, which can undermine children’s performance in school. In addition, families also spend much money when seeking treatment”. Said Dr Tuyishime.

 He added, “Putting to end NTDs is easy if we all match efforts. We have been carrying out mobilization to disseminate information. We learnt that many people confuse NTDs with other diseases. This undermines earlier treatment.”

In 20 diseases categorized by the World Health Organization (WHO), eight of them particularly affects Rwandans, although, the prevalence varies from different factors.

 Leprosy, intestinal worms and Bilharzia are the most prevalent NTDs in Rwanda, as per data from Ministry of Health.

Eugenie Kubwimana, a resident of Juru sector who attended the celebration acknowledges that many people in her area lack information about the NTDs. The information gap makes people clueless about the cause of NTDs, how they transmit as well as how they are treated.

“We never knew that embracing hygiene and sanitation can protect us from those diseases. Even people could perceive that NTDs are results of bad sprits. In many instances infected could be rushed to witch doctors or seek other herbal medication. The primitive options couldn’t recover them.  said the resident.

She continued “But with knowledge and education about the NTDs, we are going to be the forefront partners in helping the country record the elimination by 2030.”

Besides, Kubwimana called for allocation of more health centers with specialized or trained medical personel for the NTDs.

Bugesera’s Vice-Mayor in charge social affairs, Yvette Imanishimwe pledges that the district is working tirelessly to make improvement, also draws significant strides made in eliminating the NTDs in Bugesera.

“From example the number of leprosy patients declined from 20 to five in our district. We are closely working with the government actors and other stakeholders to advance. Hopefully, by 2030, all NTDs would be eliminated”. She asserted.

During the celebration, official witnessed standard latrines build at Rurambi marshland to help the farmers protect themselves from poor sanitation and hygiene-related diseases including the intestinal worms.

Also, residents were given deworming tables for intestinal worms and other parasite worms like schistosomiasis.

Globally, over the past 20 years, more than 50 countries have eliminated one or more NTDs, with the support from World Health Organization (WHO.