Tropical diseases are endemic in tropical or subtropical region, most of which are communicable. Among many diseases in the tropical region, WHO is strengthening its efforts to control 8 major diseases.
    They are malaria, schistosomiasis, African sleeping sickness, Chagas disease, leishmaniasis, filariasis, onchocerciasis, and leprosy. The burden of tropical diseases is unacceptably high. The impoverished and marginalized people are too often the hardest hit. Disease causes sickness, incapacity disfigurement and death. It shortens lives, reduces the ability to work and to attend school, and puts a brake on national aspirations for economic advancement. No matter where they originate, tropical diseases have the potential to spread as more people travel and as the environment changes; some of their infections are being found in areas beyond the tropics. The tropical diseases of most concern affect more than 500 million people in the world, and cause an estimated 2-3 million deaths every year. Half of humanity lives in the tropical regions and is therefore at risk from these diseases which may be old and long-entrenched or newly re-emerging. Unless the death and suffering that they cause can be reduced, the future prospects of families, communities and whole nations will be severely compromised.