In a previous entry I wrote about the relative neglect of Tuberculosis compared to the international HIV/AIDS movement. In today’s issue of the Public Library of Science: Neglected Tropical Diseases, they take it a step further, arguing for increased funding for a wide variety of truly neglected tropical diseases that affect the poorest of individuals in alarming numbers. From the article:

“Since 2005 we have advocated the need to establish a suitable financing mechanism to combat some of the most common and highest burden neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), namely ascariasis, trichuriasis, hookworm infection, schistosomiasis, lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, and trachoma [3]–[10]…The NTDs represent the most common infections of the world’s poorest people—“the bottom billion” [3]—and are arguably a major reason why the world’s poorest people are unable to escape a vicious and downward spiral of destitution [3]–[10]. Despite their global public health and economic importance [3],[4], as well as the proven success of their control and even elimination in many settings [10], the NTDs have been overshadowed by “the big three diseases” targeted by The Global Fund. This is a tragic oversight because we are now in a unique position to control or eliminate some of the highest burden NTDs through integrated use of donated drugs developed initially by Pharma for human and veterinary infections in the industrialized world, such as ivermectin, azithromycin, albendazole, and mebendazole [9],[10].”

Clearly these issues need further injection into mainstream thinking on improving the public health in developing countries. As the authors of the article note, the G8 Hokkaido Toyako 2008 Summit would be a great forum for such attention. The PLoS and the authors of this article deserve much praise in their devotion to this issue.