Neglected tropical diseases as a barometer for progress in health systems in times of COVID-19

Abstract

### Summary box The year 2020 will be regarded as the year when the SARS-CoV-2 resulted in the COVID-19 pandemic that spread globally, catching most countries unprepared. Amid untold suffering, COVID-19 presents the opportunity to galvanise support for long due social, political and economic reforms to address the root causes of ill-health and inequities, but also to radically transform health and social protection systems to enable more effective performance and resilience to systemic shocks.1 Like neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), the COVID-19 pandemic has a poverty-related dimension, hitting hardest at marginalised populations.2 This paper argues that NTDs offer valuable insights for building back better health systems for pandemic preparedness, while also providing an important barometer for progress in health and social protection. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed serious failures in health and care systems in high-income, middle-income and low-income countries alike. Fragmentation and a lack of intersectoral responses have prevented countries from responding effectively. For example, information and data collection systems are usually not integrated, comprehensive or rapid enough to provide a full picture of the pandemic’s impact to readily inform decision-makers, even for such basic indicators as mortality. The failure to implement community-based surveillance and response has made it difficult to manage the spread of SARS-CoV-2. Moreover, public health communication has been weak in most places, confusing and misleading in others. Part of the problem …