Six African countries join hands to fight deadly kala-azar disease

Six African countries have agreed to work together to eliminate kala-azar, one of the deadliest neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) after malaria, which kills thousands of people across Eastern Africa, especially children under 15.

Chad, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan signed an agreement during a high-level African Union and WHO event held in Geneva on the sidelines of the 78th World Health Assembly.

The agreement is viewed as a big step in the fight against NTDs. Kala-azar, also known as visceral leishmaniasis, is one of the deadliest parasitic killers. It causes fever, extreme fatigue, weight loss, spleen and liver enlargement, and if left untreated, it can lead to death.

Over 70% of the global burden is in the Eastern African region, where half of the affected people are children under 15.

In Geneva, Tanzania, Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria, and Senegal also joined in, calling for stronger cross-border collaboration against NTDs, which still threaten over 600 million people across the continent.

And ministers of health from Cameroon, Niger, and Nigeria also issued a ‘Call for Action’ to eliminate NTDs in general, joined by their fellow ministers who were present.

The endemic countries will share strategies, share information and data, support each other with resources, jointly plan and implement health policies, and develop better ways to treat and prevent kala-azar.

The drive mirrors recent regional health successes, like the elimination of NTDs in Mauritania, Chad, Guinea, and Niger.

Speaking at the event, Dr Landry Tsague Dongmo, Director of Africa CDC’s Centre for Primary Health Care on behalf of the Director General of Africa CDC, Dr Jean Kaseya said, “Diseases do not stop at borders — and neither should our response.”

Over 600 million people on the continent remain at risk of at least one of the neglected tropical diseases.

Collaboration and elimination

Many NTDs are transmitted by animals, and their spread is facilitated by factors such as climate change and population movements. The interconnected nature of these diseases means that cooperation is essential to tackling them.

Dongmo called on countries to work together and share information to stop these diseases from spreading.

He disclosed Africa CDC has been working to enhance cross-border surveillance platforms through the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response framework, in close collaboration with the WHO.

NTDs affect over one billion people annually, especially the vulnerable and impoverished communities.

In Uganda, kala-azar is known to occur in the northeastern districts of Karamoja-Moroto and Amudat. These areas have limited access to health services, and patients often travel long distances to get treatment. The disease is spread by the bite of infected sandflies and is more common in areas with poor housing and sanitation.

The condition starts with a rash around the mouth and can spread to the arms and upper body, eventually affecting the entire body, depending on severity.

Uganda has made some progress in managing the disease. The Ministry of Health, with support from partners, offers treatment in affected regions and has trained health workers to identify and manage the illness. However, many cases still go unreported due to low awareness and poor access to care.

Nonetheless, significant progress has been made over the past decade: as of May 2025, 56 countries have eliminated at least one NTD globally, including Togo (four NTDs) and Benin, Ghana and India (three NTDs).

In 2024 and 2025, several other African countries achieved this target for one or two NTDs: most recently, Mauritania, Chad, Guinea and Niger were acknowledged by WHO for eliminating an NTD.

‘As the global community reaches the half-way point towards the roadmap targets and almost one year after we launched a strategic framework for the elimination of visceral leishmaniasis, the critical role of country-led efforts and cross-border collaboration in accelerating elimination cannot be over overemphasised.’ said Dr Ibrahima Socé Fall, Director of the WHO Global Neglected Tropical Diseases Programme.

The new agreement signed in Geneva will help the collaborating countries develop effective strategies at the regional level and collaborate closely to achieve the targets outlined in the visceral leishmaniasis elimination framework launched by Eastern African countries in June 2024.

Need for better treatment

Dr Luis Pizarro, Executive Director of the non-profit medical research organisation Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) emphasised that patients and their communities urgently need new, improved oral treatments for kala-azar.

Reports indicate that current medicines can be painful and require hospital stays. And health research group DNDi is working on developing improved, easier-to-use drugs.

“To reach elimination, we need more medical innovation,” Pizarro said. “The recent successes of South Asian countries, such as Bangladesh, in eliminating kala-azar show that global elimination of this dreadful disease is within our reach.”