The Problem: Neglected diseases and why they matter
Over a billion people worldwide experience morbidity and mortality from conditions for which there are few evidence-based treatments. Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) impose a devastating human, social and economic burden on predominantly impoverished populations, mainly in tropical and subtropical areas where the most vulnerable, marginalized populations of the world live.1,2 The World Health Organization (WHO) definition of NTDs includes the phrase “ancient diseases of poverty”, which though poetic leaves out emerging infectious threats and diseases such as malnutrition, intoxications due to poorly regulated industrial activity (e.g. lead, mercury, pesticides exposures) and many other conditions (See Table 1) which disproportionately affect the poor and disenfranchised, and about which too little is known, or done.
Over recent decades, evidence-based medicine has been accepted as the standard upon which to base high quality treatment guidelines. Contrasted with this is the problematic reality: we lack the necessary evidence to know how to use medications properly in large sections of the population, and we do not have optimal drugs to use in many NTDs. Moreover, these conditions often disproportionately affect neglected populations such as children and pregnant women. As reliable access to safe, effective preventives and treatments can break the cycle of poverty, illness, and ensuing debility that further perpetuates poverty, it is of paramount importance to investigate and develop new medicines for neglected populations suffering from NTDs. Furthermore, there is not only a need to develop and evaluate novel therapies, but also to ensure that these are affordable, available, and adapted to the communities who need them.