In response to a 2010 World Health Organization report Working to overcome the global impact of neglected tropical diseases, this week, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Bank, 13 pharmaceutical companies, the governments of the U.S., U.K. and U.A.E. and other global organizations committed to a new, coordinated effort to advance progress towards controlling 10 neglected tropical diseases by the end of the decade and improve the lives of the 1.4 billion affected by such diseases globally. Guiding this effort, the World Health Organization released targets and a strategy, Accelerating work to overcome the global impact of neglected tropical diseases—A roadmap for implementation.
These neglected tropical diseases include:
- lymphatic filariasis
- blinding trachoma
- sleeping sickness
- leprosy
- soil-transmitted helminthes
- schistosomiasis
- river blindness
- Chagas disease
- visceral leishmaniasis
- guinea worm