Ghana’s set target of achieving its millennium development goal of reducing poverty may not be achieved if some tropical diseases which affect the people and the economy are not eradicated.Yaws is one of the major tropical diseases in Ghana that has been neglected with statistics currently standing at seven hundred per thousand in children.Yaws is a chronic infection that affects the skin and some parts of the body such as the bone. It is also known as ‘ekli’ or ‘gyata’ in the local dialect. It is caused by a bacterium ‘Treponema Pertenue’.The disease is characterized by sores and may not manifest early in the victim. It affects mostly young people between the ages of 5 and 25. Although rarely painful, the disease can lead to chronic disability and deformities in some parts of the body such as the legs and skin.Overcrowding, poor personal hygiene and poor sanitation aid in the spread of the disease. Coming in contact with affected persons also transfers the disease from person to person.Ghana is one of the major endemic countries in West Africa. The disease is prevalent in some rural communities with the Eastern, Central and Western regions being the most affected.As the disease mostly affects people within the productive age group, Ghana’s set target of reducing poverty is threatened by this disease.To fight it, the ministry of health in collaboration with the Ghana Health Service has launched a campaign to eradicate the disease by 2016.At the launch of the campaign, the Minister of Health Alban Bagbin charged the Ghana Health Service to draw up a comprehensive plan before 2016 to eradicate the disease from Ghana.World health Organization representative, Dr. Iddirisu Sosa, also called for resources to be channeled into the eradication of the other tropical diseases. Yaws is treatable and it is expected to be eradicated completely by 2017.