Geneva, Aug 27 (Prensa Latina) The World Health Organization (WHO) launched today a comprehensive plan to integrate water, sanitation and hygiene services with public health actions to accelerate the elimination and eradication of neglected tropical diseases.

Interventions of this global plan until 2020 are aimed at strengthening efforts to fight 16 tropical diseases that affect more than one billion people in the world, said the World Health Organization in their website.

Millions of people suffer devastating neglected tropical diseases as guinea worm disease, trachoma and schistosomiasis, which mainly affect children, said Dr. Maria Neira, WHO Director for Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health.

"Solutions exist: access to drinking water, human waste management, hygiene improvement. All this not only leads to better health, but also reduces poverty, Dr. Neira explained.

According to WHO, millions of people worldwide lack access to most basic water, sanitation and hygiene services. This puts them at risk of many diseases, including 16 of the 17 neglected tropical diseases, affecting more than a billion people in 149 countries.