This new phase builds upon successes of its initial phase implemented between February 2023 and July 2024, across the five districts namely Bongo, Talensi, Nabdam, Builsa South and Binduri

The project focused on strengthening surveillance, training health personnel, reducing stigma, and establishing a civil society network to fight skin NTDs across beneficiary areas in the Upper East Region.

Under the new two-year phase with funding from Anesvad Foundation, the project will extend to 40 communities within the Bongo, Talensi, Nabdam, and Binduri chosen for their disease prevalence and vulnerability.

The project aims to shift from output-based measurement to outcomes, with baseline and endline surveys, and a final evaluation to better assess long-term impact.

Speaking at the launch, Mr Milton Aberinga, Programmes Manager, DRAC, said the initiative will improve access to timely healthcare, tackle stigma and discrimination, and empower economically marginalised individuals affected by skin NTDs.
He said the project will provide vocational training in basket weaving and soap making, improve water and sanitation infrastructure through the construction of 10 boreholes, and enhance public awareness through media engagement.

“Phase two of the project represents a more holistic approach. We are not just treating symptoms; we are empowering communities to take charge of their health and dignity,” said Mr Aberinga during the launch.

He said the project was targeting over 24,000 community members while 640 women were set to receive vocational training in soap and basket weaving as part of strategies to provide economic empowerment to the Skin NTDs affected persons.

He reiterated commitment of DRAC to continue to partner major stakeholders such as the Ghana Health Service, Department of Social Welfare, and National Health Insurance Scheme to improve integration and sustainability of services.

Dr Braimah Baba Abubakri, Upper East Regional Director, Ghana Health Service, commended DRAC for their commitment over the years to fight Skin NTDs, stressing that the diseases were still a public health concern particularly in many districts across the region.

He said Leprosy and Yaws were the most prevalent Skin NTDs in the region, adding that “from 2020 to 2024, the region detected a total of 137 cases of Leprosy with 80 percent of them reporting advanced stages of disability.

“This indicates that our people still do not adhere to the issue of early reporting for treatment. Over the same period, about 1190 cases of Yaws were suspected and treated in the region”.

He believed that the project had potential to increase awareness against the diseases and called for collective support from stakeholders to ensure the project succeeded.

Skin NTDs are a group of infectious diseases that primarily affect the skin, causing chronic illness, disability, disfigurement, and stigma, particularly in poor and marginalised communities in tropical and subtropical regions.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) currently recognizes 20 Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) and these are a diverse group of communicable diseases that prevail in tropical and subtropical regions, affecting more than a billion people, mostly in poverty-stricken areas.

Some of them are Buruli ulcer, Chagas disease, Dengue and other arboviral diseases, Dracunculiasis (Guinea-worm disease), Echinococcosis, Foodborne trematodiases, Human African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness), Leishmaniasis, Leprosy, Yaws, Lymphatic filariasis among others.

Edited by Fatima Anafu-Astanga/ Kenneth Odeng Adade