Nearly half of Kenya’s population lives on less than $1 a day and is at risk for one or more neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). NTDs such as lymphatic filariasis (also known as elephantiasis), schistosomiasis, and intestinal worms keep children out of school and adults from working — trapping families in a cycle of poverty.

Neema and her sister Fatuma live in Burangi, a remote village in Kenya surrounded by water where NTDs are endemic. Just five years old, Neema has already been sick for several years. As Fatuma, her sister, grows taller and stronger, her little sister has grown weaker. The girls’ grandmother, Khasirimi, was once a great farmer, providing her extended family with vegetables and fruit — until lymphatic filariasis swelled her legs and made it painful to walk and difficult to tend to her farm.

Transmitted by infected mosquitos, lymphatic filariasis can live inside a person for years before symptoms show. An annual dose of medication can prevent infection but once the extremities start to swell, it cannot be cured. Because Khasirimi's disease has progressed, the swelling can only be managed — not reversed.