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xiv THIRD WHO REPORT ON NEGLECTED TROPICAL DISEASES
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Strengthening capacity for vector ecology and management remains a priority. In areas
where multiple NTDs are endemic, WHO deploys integrated vector management to control
the transmission of pathogens. Pesticides are pivotal to controlling vector populations, and
their judicious and sound management in minimizing adverse events on human and animal
health and the environment are important tenets of integrated vector management. The
WHO Pesticide Evaluation Scheme evaluated and made recommendations on 10 pesticide
products during 2012–2013. A further 14 pesticides are undergoing evaluation. Since 2007,
more than 20 Member States have received WHO support in preparing regional policies
and frameworks for pesticide management and in procuring pesticides for public-health
use.
The need to control zoonoses is becoming increasingly urgent. At least four NTDs have
prominent zoonotic components. Echinococcosis, foodborne trematodiases, rabies, and
taeniasis and (neuro)cysticercosis are neglected zoonotic diseases because they rank far
down on the priorities of governments and of the international public-health community.
The year 2010 marked a turning point with WHO signing a Tripartite Agreement with the
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Organisation for
Animal Health. This agreement calls for intersectoral collaboration covering the three areas
of interest involved in the transmission cycle of zoonoses: human health, veterinary health
and environmental health. WHO’s future plans include working closely with countries that
are willing to embark on control and elimination of zoonoses using the most appropriate
tools available.
Joint planning, resourcing and delivery of safe water, sanitation and hygiene and control
interventions must be prioritized to accelerate progress towards public-health and human
development goals. Having achieved important progress in providing access to safedrinking
water, more needs to be done to improve sanitation and hygiene conditions. At
the end of 2012, an estimated 2.5 billion people – approximately one-third of the world’s
population – lacked access to improved sanitation.
Avenues for research and development must be pursued in order to find new approaches
and simplified strategies as well as novel diagnostics, medicines, vaccines and vector control
methods, as vector-borne diseases continue to spread at an alarming pace and to new
geographical areas . Major efforts are needed to control re-emerging threats from dengue
and other related arboviruses such as chikungunya and zika. Good-quality research is
integral to sustainable control of NTDs. Research must therefore remain an inherent part of
the culture of control, even as diseases move towards elimination and eradication.