“The Kenyan government launched a five-year national master-plan on Thursday to address neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) that have become a public health challenge in remote parts of the country,” making Kenya “the first country in Africa to launch a broad-based strategic plan on combating neglected tropical ailments that include bilharzia, trachoma, kalaazar, intestinal worms, elephantiasis and Hydatid disease,” Africa Science News reports. “Minister for Public Health and Sanitation Beth Mugo said this strategic plan dovetails with her ministry’s ‘vision of transforming Kenya into a nation free from preventable diseases and ill health,'” the news service writes (Mwaura, 11/11).

“Eliminating NTDs in Kenya is also in line with Millennium Development Goal 6, along with achieving Vision 2030, which aims to turn Kenya into a middle-income nation by 2030,” according to the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases’s “End the Neglect” blog, which notes, “In Kenya alone, one in two people suffer from NTDs” (Diep, 11/10).