TURIN. Next Monday, January 30, the Mole Antonelliana – together with a hundred other monuments around the world – will light up in purple and orange to draw attention to the Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), which affect over a billion people, one out of five, a further scourge for the most unfortunate countries on our planet, where hygienic-sanitary conditions are poor.
In particular, these are twenty pathologies triggered by a wide variety of pathogens including viruses, bacteria, parasites and fungi. «Diseases such as leprosy, dengue, filariasis or Chagas disease – explain the organizers – defined as neglected as they are little considered in the global health agenda. Research aimed at their study is underfunded because NTDs affect populations that are themselves neglected, and do not constitute a source of income for the pharmaceutical industry”. Diseases associated above all with stigmas and social exclusion, “which often lead to the establishment of a vicious circle which translates into low levels of schooling, limited professional opportunities and the perpetuation of the cycle of poverty”.
It is the first time that a day dedicated to these tropical diseases is also held in Turin. The aim of the event is to raise awareness of the impact that these diseases have, in a non-endemic context such as the Italian one. “Promoting, disseminating and strengthening health policies that take into account neglected tropical diseases is part of the current effort to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals of the World Health Organization”. In addition to the Mole Antonelliana, another hundred monuments around the world will be illuminated in purple and orange to support the launch of the campaign called “100% Committed to end neglected tropical diseases”, with which the WHO aims to eliminate at least one Ntd in one hundred countries by 2030: from the Bell Tower of Perth in Australia, to the Tokyo Tower in Japan, the Great Wall of China, the Colosseum in Rome, the Tower of Pisa, the Niagara Falls, up to Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro. Lights on scientific research.
In Turin the event will be accompanied – until 4 February at the Central Civic Library in via della Cittadella 5 – by the photographic exhibition «Forgotten health»: images to remember the NTDs (opening hours from Monday to Friday from 9 to 19, Saturday from 9 at 15). The exhibition will then be transferred (until 11 March) to the headquarters of Vol.To Centro Servizio per il Volontariato, in via Giolitti 21 (opening hours from Tuesday to Friday from 9 to 18 and on Saturday from 9 to 13, with free admission) . Images to evoke not only the theme of illness and suffering, but also to convey messages of optimism and hope that scientific research can transform into concrete possibilities for treatment.