This exhibition explores Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) through the lens of lived experience, situating illness not only as a biomedical condition but also as a social, cultural, and ethical reality. In Zimbabwe, as in many parts of Africa, NTDs include parasitic worm infections such as bilharzia, linked to contact with contaminated freshwater; intestinal worms associated with soil and water; and elephantiasis, transmitted by mosquitoes, alongside trachoma, snakebite, and rabies. Beyond their clinical effects, these conditions profoundly shape everyday life, influencing mobility, education, livelihoods, and social belonging.
The term “neglected” reflects longstanding histories of structural inequality in global health, where communities most affected by NTDs have often remained underrepresented in research agendas and policy frameworks. Yet such neglect is neither natural nor inevitable. Zimbabwe’s national response offers an important counter-narrative. Through sustained collaboration among communities, health workers, researchers, and the Ministry of Health and Child Care, the country has achieved significant reductions in disease burden, including a decline in bilharzia prevalence from approximately 30 percent to around 1 percent over the past decade. This progress underscores the impact of locally grounded, evidence-based public health practice.
Central to this transformation is the NTD Affected Voices Programme, initiated by the Tackling Infections to Benefit Africa (TIBA) Partnership. Developed in Zimbabwe and now operating globally, the programme promotes a participatory approach that recognises people affected by NTDs as knowledge holders rather than passive subjects of intervention. It brings together individuals with lived experience, community and environmental health workers, clinicians, educators, policymakers, and researchers to co-produce knowledge and shape sustainable solutions.
Presented in collaboration with the National Gallery of Zimbabwe and TIBA, this exhibition positions art as a critical companion to science. While biomedical research generates data, protocols, and treatments, artistic practice attends to meaning, memory, and care. Through photography and narrative, the exhibition translates epidemiological knowledge into human stories, fostering reflection on dignity, responsibility, and the ethics of health equity. In doing so, it affirms the vital role of the medical humanities in bridging scientific knowledge with the lived realities of illness, recovery, and hope.
