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takyon writes:

Major progress towards eliminating "tropical diseases", such as trachoma, river blindness, and leprosy, has been made since a goal was set in 2012:

A pledge by health and development experts to tackle neglected diseases that blind, disable and disfigure millions of the world's poorest people has spurred tremendous progress in five years, a report said on Thursday.

More than one billion people were treated in 2016 for painful infections, such as sleeping sickness and elephantiasis, as increased funding, drug donations and political will helped health workers reach patients in remote areas, it said.

[...] The 2012 London Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases, set a goal of controlling, eliminating or eradicating 10 diseases, including leprosy and river blindness, by 2020. [...] The number of people affected by NTDs has fallen to 1.5 billion from almost 2 billion in 2011, the report by Uniting to Combat NTDs, a partnership backing the 2020 goal, said.

Since 2012, five countries have eliminated trachoma as a public health problem - meaning it no longer poses a major threat to community health - and four countries in the Americas have eliminated river blindness, it said.

Uniting to Combat NTDs report.

Also at LA Times.

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