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Research and Capacity Building for Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases: The Need for a Different Approach

Year: 2011

Type: article

Abstract: The neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a group of chronic disabling infections affecting more than 1 billion people worldwide, mainly in Africa and mostly those living in remote rural areas, urban slums, or conflict zones. By considering the NTDs together, it is clear that they threaten the health of the poorest to a similar extent as HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis (TB) [1]. Beyond their nega-tive direct impact on health, NTDs also fuel the vicious circle of poverty and stigma that leaves people unable to work, go to school, or participate in family and community life. Whilst ‘‘the big three’’ infections have caught the world’s atten-tion, these other disabling and sometimes fatal infectious diseases in Africa have until very recently been receiving relatively little attention from donors, policymakers, and public health officials. Yet NTD control represents a largely untapped develop-ment opportunity to alleviate misery and poverty in the world’s poorest populations, and therefore has a direct impact on the achievement of the Millennium Develop-ment Goals. The impact of NTDs on health and economy is now increasingly discussed in international fora, e.g., recently in a series of articles in The Lancet at the beginning of 2010 ([2],

Source: PLoS neglected tropical diseases

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0001020