The World Health Organization (WHO) congratulates Chad for having eliminated the gambiense form of human African trypanosomiasis, also known as sleeping sickness, as a public health problem. It marks the first neglected tropical disease to be eliminated in the country. Chad is the first country to be acknowledged for eliminating a neglected tropical disease in 2024, becoming the 51 st country to have achieved such target globally, and marking the first step beyond the midpoint to the global threshold of 100 countries set for 2030.
The 100-country target is one of the four global overarching targets set by the Road map for neglected tropical diseases 2021–2030. I congratulate the government and the people of Chad for this achievement. It is great to see Chad join the growing group of countries that have eliminated at least one NTD.
The 100-country target is nearer and within reach." Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General Sleeping sickness can cause flu-like symptoms initially but eventually causing behaviour change, confusion, sleep cycle disturbances or even coma, often leading to death.
Improved access to early diagnosis and treatment, as well as surveillance and response has proven that countries can control and eventually eliminate transmission. So far, seven countries have been validated by WHO for eliminating the gambiense form of human African trypanosomiasis: Togo (2020), Benin (2021), Côte d'Ivoire (2021), Uganda (2022), Equatorial Guinea (2022), Gha.