NTDs including toxocariasis, trichomoniasis, neurocysticercosis, and Chagas disease infect tens of millions of Americans. Now, as the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to kill hundreds of thousands of people living in the US, the countryвЂ™s historic failure to guarantee health care and provide basic human rights, like quality water and sanitation, raises significant questions about its ability to effectively protect people against coronavirus. In some parts of the US, even Neglected Tropical DiseasesВ (NTDs),В which generally affect people living in extreme poverty,В flourish. Across the country, people of color and people living in poverty have less access to quality health care and face a range of health consequences not experienced by other Americans. The COVID-19 coronavirus isnвЂ™t the first health crisis to highlight inequalities in US health care. People of color, especially black people, are dying at a higher rate in the US from the coronavirus than white people because theyвЂ™re more likely to work in jobs that canвЂ™t be done remotely, have less access to health insurance, and have pre-existing conditions related to poverty, according to researchers who spoke with the New York Times.Д«lack people in the US are also more likely to live in areas with severe air pollution, which increases the likelihood of dying from the virus. Another man used his last breath to ask the doctor ' whoвЂ™s going to pay for'В the cost of a life-savingВ ventilator. One woman in Pennysylvania died after refusing to go to the hospital because she feared that it would cost too much, while a man died after ' self-medicating'В with a chemical found in a fish tank cleaner because of misinformation. You can join us in taking action on related issues here.ДЄs the COVID-19 coronavirus spreads throughout the US, long-standing inequalities in the countryвЂ™s health care system are being exposed and many people are dying as a result. The United Nations calls on countries like the US to eradicate these diseases and provide basic health care to protect citizens. Neglected tropical diseases, like hookworm, generally affect people living in extreme poverty,В butВ they also flourish in parts of the United States.

Hookworms in humans face