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Abhishek Bachchan wants to help combat tropical diseases

MUMBAI – Celebrities are often seen living it up to the nines, but there many often lend their names to worthy causes, from Aids awareness to famine relief to disaster relief.

Abhishek Bachan want to raise awareness about tropical diseases.

Abhishek Bachan want to raise awareness about tropical diseases.

MUMBAI – Celebrities are often seen living it up to the nines, but there many often lend their names to worthy causes, from Aids awareness to famine relief to disaster relief.

Last week, yet another star lent his celeb backing. The Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases named Bollywood superstar Abhishek Bachchan as its first official END7 campaign ambassador in India to help raise awareness of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).

Bachan of course, is no stranger to backing such causes. In the past, he has helped to raise funds for The Banyan, a voluntary organisation which rehabilitates homeless women with mental illness in Chennai, as well as promoted awareness of drug abuse in India as part of a citizen education campaign.

“India represents 35 per cent of the total global burden for NTDs, causing massive suffering among our poorest citizens. As a parent, I am deeply moved by the devastating toll of NTDs on children, and I want to ensure that no Indian child has to suffer needlessly,” he said.

“I am proud to serve as the END7 campaign’s ambassador in India and hope that others will join me in ridding our country of these preventable diseases.”

Launched in 2012 by the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases, an advocacy initiative of the Sabin Vaccine Institute, END7 is the first and only global public awareness campaign dedicated to controlling and eliminating the seven most common NTDs — hookworm, ascariasis (roundworm), trichuriasis (whipworm), schistosomiasis (snail fever), lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis), onchocerciasis (river blindness) and trachoma — which is said to infect more than one in six people worldwide. And it hopes to achieve it by 2020.

According to a press statement, Bachchan will play a key role in drawing attention to NTDs as an achievable health priority for India, educating the public about the impact of NTDs and the importance of complying with free NTD treatment programs, while also encouraging national and state level policy-makers to continue making the cost-effective investment in NTD programs.

“We have already defeated smallpox, guinea worm and polio in India. NTDs can be our next major public health success story, and we are on track to eliminate lymphatic filariasis very soon,” said Anshu Prakash, Joint Secretary of India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. “A focus on NTD control and elimination also represents one of the best investments we can make in the health and economic future of our country.”

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