Other Infectious Diseases in Europe & Central Asia

This residual infectious disease category captures conditions not classified under the specific cause headings for tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, malaria, hepatitis, meningitis, or enteric infections. It includes neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) such as leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, lymphatic filariasis, trypanosomiasis, and schistosomiasis; invasive fungal infections including cryptococcal meningitis and invasive aspergillosis; parasitic diseases; rabies; and emerging or re-emerging zoonotic infections. The WHO estimates that NTDs alone affect more than 1.6 billion people across 149 endemic countries, predominantly in tropical regions where poverty, inadequate sanitation, and proximity to animal reservoirs drive transmission. Invasive fungal infections are increasingly recognised as a major cause of mortality, killing an estimated 1.5 million people annually — largely among immunocompromised individuals, including people living with advanced HIV. The burden of this heterogeneous group falls disproportionately on low-income tropical countries where diagnostic capacity is limited, access to essential medicines is unreliable, and health surveillance systems may fail to capture the true scope of disease. Europe and Central Asia benefit from relatively strong health systems and high physician density, but face ageing populations, rising non-communicable disease burdens, and persistent East-West health outcome gradients. In Europe & Central Asia, other infectious diseases mortality is near global averages, though the region exhibits a marked gradient between Western European countries with low rates and Central Asian nations facing higher burdens.

Mass drug administration (MDA) programmes are the cornerstone of NTD control, delivering preventive chemotherapy for lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis, soil-transmitted helminths, and trachoma at low cost per person treated. Rabies is entirely preventable through dog vaccination and timely post-exposure prophylaxis, yet continues to kill an estimated 59,000 people annually. Improved access to antifungal agents — particularly amphotericin B and fluconazole — and rapid diagnostic tools are critical for reducing fungal infection mortality. For emerging zoonotic infections, One Health surveillance at the human-animal-environment interface, combined with pandemic preparedness investments, is essential. Water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure, vector control, and environmental management address root transmission pathways for many diseases in this category.

The mortality estimates presented on this page are derived from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study, produced by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). The GBD synthesizes data from vital registration systems, verbal autopsies, cancer registries, and surveillance networks across more than 200 countries and territories. Death rates are expressed per 100,000 population and are age-standardized, which adjusts for differences in age structure between populations so that comparisons across countries and over time reflect genuine differences in mortality risk rather than demographic composition.

The dataset typically covers the period from 1990 to 2023, although availability varies by country and cause. When interpreting the figures for other infectious diseases in Europe & Central Asia, note that higher age-standardized rates indicate a greater mortality burden independent of whether a country's population is older or younger. Trends over time reveal whether public health interventions, economic development, and health system improvements have reduced or increased the toll of this condition in the region.

The cause-of-death categories used on this page follow the Global Burden of Disease cause hierarchy, a standardized classification that groups individual ICD-coded causes into clinically meaningful categories. The "share of deaths" metric shows what percentage of all deaths in a given country or region are attributed to other infectious diseases. A rising share does not necessarily mean more people are dying from this cause — it may reflect success in reducing competing causes of death. Always examine both absolute rates and shares for a complete picture of mortality patterns in Europe & Central Asia.

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