Neglected Diseases
Encyclopedia
Tropical disease
Tropical diseases are diseases that are prevalent in or unique to tropical and subtropical regions. The diseases are less prevalent in temperate climates, due in part to the occurrence of a cold season, which controls the insect population by forcing hibernation. Insects such as mosquitoes and...
which are especially endemic in low-income populations in developing regions of Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, and the Americas
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
. Different organizations define the set of diseases differently. In sub-Saharan Africa, the impact of these diseases
Disease burden
Disease burden is the impact of a health problem in an area measured by financial cost, mortality, morbidity, or other indicators. It is often quantified in terms of quality-adjusted life years or disability-adjusted life years , which combine the burden due to both death and morbidity into one...
as a group is comparable to malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
and tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
.
Some of these diseases have known preventive measures or acute medical treatments which are available in the developed world but which are not universally available in poorer areas. In some cases, the treatments are relatively inexpensive. For example, the treatment for schistosomiasis
Schistosomiasis
Schistosomiasis is a parasitic disease caused by several species of trematodes , a parasitic worm of the genus Schistosoma. Snails often act as an intermediary agent for the infectious diseases until a new human host is found...
is USD $0.20 per child per year. Nevertheless, control of neglected diseases is estimated to require funding of between US$2 billion to US$3 billion over the next five to seven years.
These diseases are contrasted with the big three diseases (HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
, and malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
), which generally receive greater treatment and research funding. The neglected diseases can also make HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis more deadly.
However, some pharmaceutical companies have committed to donating all the drug therapies required and mass drug administration has been successfully accomplished in several countries.
List of diseases
Neglected tropical diseases include in order of decreasing prevalence:- Soil transmitted helminths, including:
- roundworms such as Ascaris lumbricoidesAscaris lumbricoidesAscaris lumbricoides is the giant roundworm of humans, belonging to the phylum Nematoda. An ascarid nematode, it is responsible for the disease ascariasis in humans, and it is the largest and most common parasitic worm in humans. One-sixth of the human population is estimated to be infected by this...
which causes ascariasisAscariasisAscariasis is a human disease caused by the parasitic roundworm Ascaris lumbricoides. Perhaps as many as one quarter of the world's people are infected, with rates of 45% in Latin America and 95% in parts of Africa. Ascariasis is particularly prevalent in tropical regions and in areas of poor...
; - whipwormWhipwormThe human tapworm is a roundworm, which causes trichuriasis when it infects a human large intestine. The name whipworm refers to the shape of the worm; they look like whips with wider "handles" at the posterior end.-Life cycle:The female T. trichiura produces 2,000–10,000 single celled eggs per day...
which causes trichuriasisTrichuriasisTrichuriasis is a parasitic infection primarily in the tissue of the cecum, appendix, colon and rectum that is caused by Trichuris trichiura , an intestinal parasitic nematode .-Agent :...
; - hookwormHookwormThe hookworm is a parasitic nematode that lives in the small intestine of its host, which may be a mammal such as a dog, cat, or human. Two species of hookworms commonly infect humans, Ancylostoma duodenale and Necator americanus. A. duodenale predominates in the Middle East, North Africa, India...
s which, depending on the species, cause necatoriasis and ancylostomiasisAncylostomiasisAncylostomiasis is the condition of infection by Ancylostoma hookworms. The name is derived from Greek ancylos αγκυλος "crooked, bent" and stoma στομα "mouth."...
.
- roundworms such as Ascaris lumbricoides
- Snail fever (schistosomiasisSchistosomiasisSchistosomiasis is a parasitic disease caused by several species of trematodes , a parasitic worm of the genus Schistosoma. Snails often act as an intermediary agent for the infectious diseases until a new human host is found...
) - Elephantiasis (Lymphatic filariasis)
- TrachomaTrachomaTrachoma is an infectious disease causing a characteristic roughening of the inner surface of the eyelids. Also called granular conjunctivitis and Egyptian ophthalmia, it is the leading cause of infectious blindness in the world...
- River blindness (onchocerciasisOnchocerciasisOnchocerciasis , also known as river blindness and Robles' disease, is a parasitic disease caused by infection by Onchocerca volvulus, a nematode . Onchocerciasis is the world's second-leading infectious cause of blindness. It is not the nematode, but its endosymbiont, Wolbachia pipientis, that...
) - Kala-azar black fever (and other clinical forms of leishmaniasisLeishmaniasisLeishmaniasis is a disease caused by protozoan parasites that belong to the genus Leishmania and is transmitted by the bite of certain species of sand fly...
) - Chagas diseaseChagas diseaseChagas disease is a tropical parasitic disease caused by the flagellate protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi. T. cruzi is commonly transmitted to humans and other mammals by an insect vector, the blood-sucking insects of the subfamily Triatominae most commonly species belonging to the Triatoma, Rhodnius,...
(American trypanosomiasis) - LeprosyLeprosyLeprosy or Hansen's disease is a chronic disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Named after physician Gerhard Armauer Hansen, leprosy is primarily a granulomatous disease of the peripheral nerves and mucosa of the upper respiratory tract; skin lesions...
- African sleeping sickness (Human African Trypanosomiasis)
- Guinea-worm (dracunculiasisDracunculiasisDracunculiasis , also called guinea worm disease , is a parasitic infection caused by Dracunculus medinensis, a long and very thin nematode . The infection begins when a person drinks stagnant water contaminated with copepods infested by the larvae of the guinea worm...
) - Buruli ulcerBuruli ulcerThe Buruli ulcer is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans. The genus also includes the causative agents of tuberculosis and leprosy...
The World Health Organization
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...
(WHO) list of neglected tropical diseases also adds the following additional diseases: Cysticercosis
Cysticercosis
Cysticercosis refers to tissue infection after exposure to eggs of Taenia solium, the pork tapeworm. The disease is spread via the fecal-oral route through contaminated food and water, and is primarily a food borne disease. After ingestion the eggs pass through the lumen of the intestine into the...
, Dengue/dengue haemorrhagic fever, Echinococcosis
Echinococcosis
Echinococcosis, which is often referred to as hydatid disease or echinococcal disease, is a parasitic disease that affects both humans and other mammals, such as sheep, dogs, rodents and horses. There are three different forms of echinococcosis found in humans, each of which is caused by the larval...
, Fascioliasis
Fascioliasis
Fasciolosis also known as Fascioliasis, Fasciolasis, distomatosis and liver rot, is an important helminth disease caused by two trematodes Fasciola hepatica and Fasciola gigantica. This disease belongs to the plant-borne trematode zoonoses. In Europe, the Americas and Oceania only F...
, Rabies
Rabies
Rabies is a viral disease that causes acute encephalitis in warm-blooded animals. It is zoonotic , most commonly by a bite from an infected animal. For a human, rabies is almost invariably fatal if post-exposure prophylaxis is not administered prior to the onset of severe symptoms...
, Yaws
Yaws
Yaws is a tropical infection of the skin, bones and joints caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum pertenue...
; and includes two other 'neglected' conditions’: Podoconiosis (also known as elephantiasis
Elephantiasis
Elephantiasis is a disease that is characterized by the thickening of the skin and underlying tissues, especially in the legs and male genitals. In some cases the disease can cause certain body parts, such as the scrotum, to swell to the size of a softball or basketball. It is caused by...
) and Snakebite
Snakebite
A snakebite is an injury caused by a bite from a snake, often resulting in puncture wounds inflicted by the animal's fangs and sometimes resulting in envenomation. Although the majority of snake species are non-venomous and typically kill their prey with constriction rather than venom, venomous...
.
Trypanosomal parasites
- Kala-azar (visceral leishmaniasis, a severe form of leishmaniasisLeishmaniasisLeishmaniasis is a disease caused by protozoan parasites that belong to the genus Leishmania and is transmitted by the bite of certain species of sand fly...
) - Treatments exist, most of them costly and/or toxic. Resistance to pentavalent antimonialPentavalent antimonialPentavalent antimonials are a group of compounds used for the treatment of leishmaniasis. They are also called pentavalent antimony compounds.-Types:...
s is spreading in parts of IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. Disease is fatal if untreated. VaccineVaccineA vaccine is a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism, and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe or its toxins...
s are under development as of 2006. Infection is spread by the bite of sandfliesPhlebotomusPhlebotomus is a genus of "sand fly" in the Dipteran family Psychodidae. In the past, they have sometimes been considered to belong in a separate family, Phlebotomidae, but this alternative classification has not gained wide acceptance.-Epidemiology:...
. - African sleeping sickness (African trypanosomiasis) - In 2009, the reported number of new cases of this disease fell below 10,000 for the first time in 50 years. Treatments exist, but have not changed much since colonial times due to lack of further research. The current forms of treatment are ineffective, highly toxic and resistance is spreading. This disease is always fatal if untreated but the outcome is often the same with the existing treatment. Infection is spread by the bite of the tsetse fly.
- Chagas diseaseChagas diseaseChagas disease is a tropical parasitic disease caused by the flagellate protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi. T. cruzi is commonly transmitted to humans and other mammals by an insect vector, the blood-sucking insects of the subfamily Triatominae most commonly species belonging to the Triatoma, Rhodnius,...
(American trypanosomiasis) - No vaccine exists for Chagas disease. Treatment for early infection exists but is uneconomical and not authorized as such, current drugs have severe side effects. Chagas disease does not kill victims rapidly, instead causing years of debilitating chronic symptoms. Bites from South American assassin bugs allow the disease to spread.
Worm (helminth) parasites
- SchistosomiasisSchistosomiasisSchistosomiasis is a parasitic disease caused by several species of trematodes , a parasitic worm of the genus Schistosoma. Snails often act as an intermediary agent for the infectious diseases until a new human host is found...
- Inexpensive praziquantelPraziquantelPraziquantel is an anthelmintic effective against flatworms. Praziquantel is not licensed for use in humans in the UK; it is, however, available as a veterinary anthelmintic, and is available for use in humans on a named-patient basis....
can treat this disease, but cannot prevent reinfection. Other treatments are harder to obtain in the developing world. Multiple vaccines are under development. SchistosomaSchistosomaA genus of trematodes, Schistosoma, commonly known as blood-flukes and bilharzia, includes flatworms which are responsible for a highly significant parasitic infection of humans by causing the disease schistosomiasis, and are considered by the World Health Organization as the second most...
species have a complex life cycle that alternates between humans and freshwater snails; infection occurs upon contact with contaminated water. This disease is unique in that damage is not caused by the worms themselves, but rather by the large volume of eggs that the worms produce. - Lymphatic FilariasisFilariasisFilariasis is a parasitic disease and is considered an infectious tropical disease, that is caused by thread-like nematodes belonging to the superfamily Filarioidea, also known as "filariae"....
(causes elephantiasisElephantiasisElephantiasis is a disease that is characterized by the thickening of the skin and underlying tissues, especially in the legs and male genitals. In some cases the disease can cause certain body parts, such as the scrotum, to swell to the size of a softball or basketball. It is caused by...
) - Effective antihelminthic treatments have been widely used in a cost-effective manner - OnchocerciasisOnchocerciasisOnchocerciasis , also known as river blindness and Robles' disease, is a parasitic disease caused by infection by Onchocerca volvulus, a nematode . Onchocerciasis is the world's second-leading infectious cause of blindness. It is not the nematode, but its endosymbiont, Wolbachia pipientis, that...
(river blindness) - Antihelminthic treatment exists, prevention may also involve insect control. - Drancunculiasis (guinea worm) - Preventable by water filtration, case containment, and increased access to safe water. An eradicationEradication of infectious diseasesEradication is the reduction of an infectious disease's prevalence in the global host population to zero. It is sometimes confused with elimination, which describes either the reduction of an infectious disease's prevalence in a regional population to zero, or the reduction of the global prevalence...
program has been under way since 1989. So far, all but 4 countries worldwide have eliminated transmission and annual cases have been reduced from ~3,500,000 in 1986 to 3,190 in 2009.
Soil-transmitted helminthiases
- AscariasisAscariasisAscariasis is a human disease caused by the parasitic roundworm Ascaris lumbricoides. Perhaps as many as one quarter of the world's people are infected, with rates of 45% in Latin America and 95% in parts of Africa. Ascariasis is particularly prevalent in tropical regions and in areas of poor...
(roundworm) - Antihelminthic treatments exist, prevention involves food and sewage sanitation - TrichuriasisTrichuriasisTrichuriasis is a parasitic infection primarily in the tissue of the cecum, appendix, colon and rectum that is caused by Trichuris trichiura , an intestinal parasitic nematode .-Agent :...
(whipwormWhipwormThe human tapworm is a roundworm, which causes trichuriasis when it infects a human large intestine. The name whipworm refers to the shape of the worm; they look like whips with wider "handles" at the posterior end.-Life cycle:The female T. trichiura produces 2,000–10,000 single celled eggs per day...
) - Antihelminthic treatments exist, prevention involves food and sewage sanitation - HookwormHookwormThe hookworm is a parasitic nematode that lives in the small intestine of its host, which may be a mammal such as a dog, cat, or human. Two species of hookworms commonly infect humans, Ancylostoma duodenale and Necator americanus. A. duodenale predominates in the Middle East, North Africa, India...
- Antihelminthic treatments exist, prevention involves food and sewage sanitation - StrongyloidiasisStrongyloidiasisStrongyloidiasis is a human parasitic disease caused by the nematode Strongyloides stercoralis, or sometimes S. fülleborni. It can cause a number of symptoms in people, principally skin symptoms, abdominal pain, diarrhea and weight loss...
- Antihelminthic treatments exist, prevention involves sewage sanitation and prevention of malnutrition
Bacterial infections
- LeprosyLeprosyLeprosy or Hansen's disease is a chronic disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Named after physician Gerhard Armauer Hansen, leprosy is primarily a granulomatous disease of the peripheral nerves and mucosa of the upper respiratory tract; skin lesions...
- Antibiotic treatments exist which can clear the infection; BCG vaccine has some preventative effect. - Buruli ulcerBuruli ulcerThe Buruli ulcer is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans. The genus also includes the causative agents of tuberculosis and leprosy...
- Surgical and antibiotic interventions are recommended - NomaNoma (disease)Noma also known as cancrum oris or gangrenous stomatitis, is a gangrenous disease leading to tissue destruction of the face, especially the mouth and cheek.-Causes:...
- Antibiotics in early phase prevents spreading of Noma. After 2–3 weeks, surgical interventions become necessary. - TrachomaTrachomaTrachoma is an infectious disease causing a characteristic roughening of the inner surface of the eyelids. Also called granular conjunctivitis and Egyptian ophthalmia, it is the leading cause of infectious blindness in the world...
- Antibiotic treatments exist, prevention involves interpersonal hygiene - CholeraCholeraCholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
- Cholera is caused by Vibrio choleraeVibrio choleraeVibrio cholerae is a Gram-negative, comma-shaped bacterium. Some strains of V. cholerae cause the disease cholera. V. cholerae is facultatively anaerobic and has a flagella at one cell pole. V...
bacteria living in contaminated drinking water. The disease presents with severe, watery diarrhea after a short incubation period lasting from zero to five days. Cholera is especially dangerous because it can kill patients in less than 24 hours from rapid dehydration. Antibacterial treatments can cure the disease, but most effective is isotonic fluid replacement therapy, which reduces deaths to 1% of cases. Cholera can be prevented with limited efficacy by two oral vaccines, but access to clean drinking water provides a guarantee of prevention.
Viral infections
- Yellow feverYellow feverYellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....
- A vaccine exists for Yellow fever. Yellow fever, like some other neglected diseases, is caused by a flavivirusFlavivirusFlavivirus is a genus of the family Flaviviridae. This genus includes the West Nile virus, dengue virus, tick-borne encephalitis virus, yellow fever virus, and several other viruses which may cause encephalitis....
. It is not generally transmissible between humans except presumably through fluid transfer, so patient isolation is not required. In a minority of cases it is hemorrhagic. Thus, due to increased tendency to bleed, and possible blood in the vomitus, standard precautions for caregivers (like gloves and washing with soap) should be applied. - Dengue feverDengue feverDengue fever , also known as breakbone fever, is an infectious tropical disease caused by the dengue virus. Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle and joint pains, and a characteristic skin rash that is similar to measles...
- Dengue fever is also caused by a flavivirus, and is spread by the bite of the A. Aegypti mosquito. Dengue fever is not usually fatal, but infection with one of four serotypes can increase later susceptibility to other serotypes, resulting in the highly dangerous Dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF). No treatment for either type of disease exists beyond palliative carePalliative carePalliative care is a specialized area of healthcare that focuses on relieving and preventing the suffering of patients...
. - Japanese EncephalitisJapanese EncephalitisJapanese encephalitis —previously known as Japanese B encephalitis to distinguish it from von Economo's A encephalitis—is a disease caused by the mosquito-borne Japanese encephalitis virus. The Japanese encephalitis virus is a virus from the family Flaviviridae. Domestic pigs and wild birds are...
- A vaccine exists for Japanese Encephalitis. Japanese Encephalitis is caused by a flavivirus. The disease is spread by Culex tritaeniorhynchusCulex tritaeniorhynchusCulex tritaeniorhynchus is a species of mosquitoes which transmits Japanese encephalitis. This mosquito is a native of northern Asia, and parts of Africa . The females target large animals for blood extraction, including cattle and swine.- External links :*...
mosquitoes. It is not transmissible between humans, except presumably through fluid transfer, so patient isolation is not required.
Incentives for research and development
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration priority review voucherPriority Review Voucher
The priority review voucher is a prize awarded in the United States to the developer of a treatment for neglected diseases. The prize was proposed by Duke University faculty David Ridley, Henry Grabowski, and Jeffrey Moe in their 2006 Health Affairs paper: "Developing Drugs for Developing...
is an incentive for companies to invest in new drugs and vaccines for tropical diseases. A provision of the Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act (HR 3580) awards a transferable “priority review voucher” to any company that obtains approval for a treatment for one of the listed diseases. The voucher can later be used to accelerate review of an unrelated drug. This program is for all tropical diseases and includes medicines for malaria and tuberculosis. The first voucher given was for Coartem
Coartem
The combination artemether/lumefantrine is an artemisinin-based combination therapy indicated for the treatment of acute uncomplicated plasmodium falciparum malaria. Coartem is produced by the Swiss pharmaceutical company, Novartis.Artemether is a derivative of artemisinin, and lumefantrine is...
, a malaria treatment. It does not use or define the term "neglected" though most of the diseases listed are often included on lists of neglected diseases.
The prize was proposed by Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
faculty Henry Grabowski, Jeffrey Moe, and David Ridley in their 2006 Health Affairs paper: "Developing Drugs for Developing Countries." In 2007 United States Senators Sam Brownback
Sam Brownback
Samuel Dale "Sam" Brownback is the 46th and current Governor of Kansas. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a U.S. Senator from Kansas from 1996 to 2011, and as a U.S. Representative for Kansas's 2nd congressional district from 1995 to 1996...
(R-KS) and Sherrod Brown
Sherrod Brown
Sherrod Campbell Brown is the senior United States Senator from Ohio and a member of the Democratic Party. Before his election to the U.S. Senate, he was a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Ohio's 13th congressional district from 1993 to 2007...
(D-OH) sponsored an amendment to the Food and Drug Administration
Food and Drug Administration
The Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments...
Amendments Act of 2007. President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
signed the bill in September 2007.
Biotechnology companies in the developing world have targeted neglected tropical diseases due to need to improve global health.
Anacor
Anacor
Anacor Pharmaceuticals , based in Palo Alto, California, is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing novel small-molecule therapeutics derived from its boron chemistry platform. Anacor was founded in 2002 based on technology created by Dr. Lucy Shapiro at...
Pharmaceuticals, located in Palo Alto, California, is a biopharmaceutical company with a unique chemistry platform using the element boron in its therapeutic compounds. Its boron chemistry platform appears to be well suited for the treatment of neglected diseases therefore Anacor has partnered with several not-for-profit organizations to discover therapies for these diseases. Anacor currently has partnerships with Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative
Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative
The Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative 501 is a non-profit drug research and development organization that is developing new treatments for neglected diseases....
to develop new therapeutics for African Sleeping Sickness, Visceral Leishmaniasis, and Chagas Disease; Medicines for Malaria Venture to develop new therapeutics for the treatment of malaria; the TB Alliance to explore therapeutics for tuberculosis; UCSF's Sandler Center to identify a drug candidate for River Blindness; and the Institute for OneWorld Health to identify antibacterial compounds to treat shigellosis, or bloody diarrhea.
See also
- Contagious diseaseContagious diseaseA contagious disease is a subset category of infectious diseases , which are easily transmitted by physical contact with the person suffering the disease, or by their secretions or objects touched by them....
- Drugs for Neglected Diseases InitiativeDrugs for Neglected Diseases InitiativeThe Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative 501 is a non-profit drug research and development organization that is developing new treatments for neglected diseases....
- Global Network for Neglected Tropical DiseasesGlobal Network for Neglected Tropical DiseasesThe Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases is an advocacy initiative of the Sabin Vaccine Institute dedicated to raising the awareness, political will, and funding necessary to control and eliminate the most common Neglected Tropical Diseases --a group of disabling, disfiguring, and deadly...
- Neglected Tropical Disease Research and DevelopmentNeglected tropical disease research and developmentNeglected tropical diseases are a set of infectious diseases affecting an estimated 1.4 billion people worldwide. The classification of this group of neglected diseases is linked to their frequent neglect in public and private sector expenditure and attention at local, national, and international...
- Orphan diseases
External links
- Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases
- Overview of Neglected Tropical Diseases and the strengths and weaknesses of non-profits tackling them by charity evaluator GiveWell
- Overview of Neglected Tropical Diseases and the strengths and weaknesses of non-profits tackling them by Giving What We Can
- Neglected Tropical Disease Control Program RTI/USAID $100,000,000 Program to Treat 40,000,000 People
- The Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases (Sabin Vaccine Institute)
- Taking on The Neglected Diseases, WorldChanging
- Nigeria's Neglected Disesaes, National Public Radio, 3-part series. March 12–13, 2007.
- International Trachoma Initiative,
- Cure for Neglected Diseases: Funding
- Malaria, the Mostly Forgotten Killer
- Whose health revolution?
- Public Library of Science NTDs, open-access journal on Neglected Tropical Diseases
- Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative, a non-profit product development partnership for the R&D of new treatments for the most neglected diseases
- BVGH Global Health Primer, a detailed analysis of the pipeline for new drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics for NTDs