If each of us had a solution to at least one problem society faces on a daily basis, Africa and the rest of the world would be a better and happier place. Among these issues are neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) that are not given the much needed attention yet they’re serious and can even cause death. On studying and conducting research about NTDs, 22-year-old Obed Imbahafi noticed the perils of the diseases and embarked on the journey to spread awareness on prevention by writing articles. Last year, he emerged winner of the written category for the global youth storytelling competition on neglected tropical diseases-NTDs across Africa intended to combat the diseases. According to World Health Organization, neglected tropical diseases are a diverse group of 20 conditions that are mainly prevalent in tropical areas, where they mostly affect needy communities and excessively affect women and children. These diseases cause devastating health, social and economic consequences to more than one billion people. Imbahafi developed the idea of taking part in the curbing of the diseases in 2011 while in primary five, when one of his friends who longed to be a doctor, gave up on his dream after he developed over a hundred worms in his belly. Obed Imbahafi won the written category for the global youth storytelling competition on NTDs across Africa. Photo/Courtesy He explains that coming from a poor family, his parents couldn’t afford medication and were ignorant about the situation. “Intestinal worms opened doors to other diseases, shattered the boy’s future, and robbed his ability to grow, learn and live to his full potential. His parents mixed some herbs for him, but it wasn’t effective until he was sent to the health facility for treatment. The diseases caused lifelong defacement and affected him academically,” Imbahafi says. Imbahafi found out that there are other diseases that affect the world’s poorest people, known as neglected tropical diseases. It was at that point that the youngster was detached from negligence and protected from such conditions. He, therefore, started attending special classes on intellectual property and technology transfer from the World Intellectual Property Organization at the beginning of 2020. In September, of the same year, he got an opportunity to enrol in a joint course offered by the World Intellectual Property Organization -WIPO, World Health Organization-WHO, and World Trade Organization-WTO on promoting access to medical technologies and innovation. “I learned about neglected tropical diseases for the first time during this course, and I was perplexed to know that they affect more than 1.7 billion people worldwide, the majority of whom are poor, and the good news is that those diseases are treatable and avoidable,” Imbahafi says. He further notes that such diseases cause immeasurable suffering, disfigurement, and can be fatal. As they affect the world’s deprived people, they create a circle of poverty, hence, costing developing countries billions of dollars every year. “There are numerous vulnerable communities where most children live and they need help.” Imbahafi explains that diseases like bilharzia, intestinal worms, and trachoma are termed neglected because they get very little attention, despite their effects. During his course, he discovered that there have been positive developments with new sources of funding and many collaborative partnerships between public and private sectors, aimed at filling the research gap on NTDs, however, investments are still insufficient. For him, in 850 new therapeutic products registered from 2000 to 2011, only 37 (four per cent) were indicated for neglected diseases, including 25 products with a new indication or formulation and eight vaccines or biological products worldwide. “Of 148,445 clinical trials registered on December 31, 2011, only 2016 (one per cent) were for neglected diseases. This made me realise how ignored such diseases are. But first, we should give thanks to Uniting to Combat NTDs and other partners for organising the Kigali Summit on NTDs and Malaria, which was hosted by President Paul Kagame, on June 23,” Imbahafi explains. He says that at the meeting, pledges totalling up to more than $US 4 billion were made, and pharmaceutical companies also donated 18 billion tablets for the prevention and treatment of NTDs. Imbahafi adds that his role is to create awareness and be the voice of the marginalised communities, from 2020, he started writing many articles and stories on NTDs and one of them titled “The power of children in fighting neglected tropical diseases in Africa” has been awarded as the first in the written category from the global youth storytelling competition on NTDs in 2021. It is through that, that Uniting to combat NTDs and Channels TV Nigeria have sponsored the story to be transitioned into a documentary. Currently, he is using affected communities’ testimonies to raise awareness and call for action. He is also a youth advocate from Youth Combating Neglected Tropical Diseases- YCNTDs, a global community of young people who are fighting to end NTDs, this is an initiative of Uniting to Combat NTDs and Future Africa Forum. “We can quickly eradicate these diseases and save more poor and marginalised groups who are most impacted, provided governments continue to invest more in the prevention and treatment,” he adds. “Many lives can be saved by providing access to clean water and adequate sanitation, but we also need to increase access to medicine and this will only be achieved when we stop viewing health in isolation during policy making. There is an overlap between public health, trade, and intellectual property which needs attention as those two domains support research, development, and distribution of medical technologies, and they have a direct effect on medicine affordability.” His humble plea to the government is to use an integrated control approach targeting multiple NTDs simultaneously through mass drug administration(MDA), combined with community-level transmission control measures as this can allow the programmes to reach more people and increase cost-efficiencies as compared to tackling each disease separately. “Let us all be a hundred per cent committed to ending NTDs,” he says.
