Potential Capacity of China's development assistance for health on neglected tropical diseases

•Great achievements on neglected tropical diseases have been achieved in China, which could be used for reference in other endemic countries.•The control of neglected tropical diseases in China is driven by government commitment and multisectoral cooperation, economic development and health system improvement, establishment of surveillance and response system and input of human resources in public health.•Major opportunities include the demand for global tropical diseases control, the established “Belt & Road” initiative and China-Africa health cooperation, developed diagnostic and therapeutic tools and established international partnerships.•Important weaknesses include the sustainability of the projects and funding of health assistance, lack of health assistance experience and lack of global health talents.•Attentions should be paid to challenges as the difference between China and recipient countries, and other ones. Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are important health problem in tropical and sub-tropical regions, which afflict more than a billion people worldwide and cause several million deaths every year, especially in Africa. The World Health Organization has called for global efforts to control and eliminate NTDs. China began its health assistance program from 1950s, especially on medical mission dispatched to more than 50 African countries. In this study, a SWOT analysis was used to analyze the current strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of China's health assistance relating to NTDs, in order to provide the recommendation to promote the activities on international assistance and cooperation on NTDs. Based on this analysis, interventions for NTDs and suggestions for future cooperation relating to NTDs are proposed. In the context of global health, China should strengthen and improve the capacity on health assistance for NTDs control.