Young people across Bangladesh are joining a new effort to protect the country’s hard-won gains against neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) and strengthen community action against remaining NTDs that continue to affect millions of people.
The Youth Against NTDs initiative is bringing together youth organizations, medical students and volunteers across the country, with plans to establish 36 NTD Youth Task Forces in both public and private medical colleges by the end of 2026.
Initiated by WHO Bangladesh, Youth Against NTDs is being led by Nymat Global, a youth-led public health network with its roots in tuberculosis (TB) advocacy, with ongoing support from the WHO country office and the WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia. It will equip young people with the knowledge and skills to raise awareness, address stigma and lead action in their own communities.
“Young people have a massive role in shifting public health paradigms,” said Dr Ahmed Jamsheeed Mohamed, WHO Representative to Bangladesh. “Their strengths in breaking social stigma, driving digital outreach and sparking community awareness are exactly what we need to ensure no vulnerable population is left behind.”
The mobilization comes as Bangladesh seeks to protect two major public health achievements. In 2023, the country eliminated lymphatic filariasis as a public health problem and became the first country in the world to eliminate visceral leishmaniasis, or kala-azar, as a public health problem.
Continued vigilance is needed to sustain these achievements, while other NTDs, including dengue, leprosy, rabies and soil-transmitted helminth infections, continue to affect communities across Bangladesh.
Building a nationwide youth network
Rather than engaging young people only as recipients of health information, the initiative is supporting them to design and lead community engagement themselves, building on established youth networks with significant reach across Bangladesh.
As of July 2026, Nymat Bangladesh had 112 core leaders and 1500 general members across 20 colleges and nongovernmental organizations. Another key partner, the International Medical Students’ Empowerment Network Bangladesh, had more than 5000 members and 56 national council officials.
The initiative is also engaging more than 200 trained youth leaders from the Dhaka College Red Crescent Unit and more than 500 active volunteers from Songjog Foundation.
“Youth organizations have strong trust within their communities. By uniting them into a regional network, the Youth Against NTDs campaign gives young people a collective voice to transform passive awareness into organized, community-led education and support systems,” said Madhusudan Kaphle, Founder and Executive Director of Nymat Global.
At least 50 onsite capacity-building workshops are being conducted in 2026 with technical support from WHO. A structured four-component training series will cover areas including NTD epidemiology, community surveillance and digital advocacy, giving participants the technical grounding to engage communities effectively.
Through Nymat Global’s “Local Problem–Local Solution” model, young people will identify barriers to NTD prevention and care in their own areas and develop responses suited to local needs.
That could mean tackling stigma associated with leprosy, increasing awareness of rabies prevention, supporting community education on dengue and soil-transmitted helminth infections, or maintaining awareness of kala-azar and lymphatic filariasis in areas where continued vigilance remains important.
“Having witnessed Nymat Global’s impactful youth engagement in TB, pivoting that energy towards urgent NTD issues like dengue is highly inspiring,” said Dr Anupama Hazarika, Team Lead for Communicable Diseases, WHO Bangladesh. “Young people have the unique energy and empathy to talk openly about these conditions, helping us reach deep into communities effectively.”
The Youth Against NTDs movement remains open to other youth-led organizations in Bangladesh, creating further opportunities to collaborate and receive technical training.
Bangladesh’s elimination of lymphatic filariasis and kala-azar as public health problems showed what sustained action against NTDs can achieve. Now, a new generation is joining the effort to protect those hard-won gains – and push progress against remaining NTDs further.