Uniting against Neglected Tropical Diseases
LONDON, United Kingdom — Bill Gates, the world's leading thirteen pharmaceutical companies, governments and global organisations have announced unprecedented funding and support to eliminate and control ten neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) by 2020.More than US $785 million will be donated to control or eliminate these infections that affect around 1.4 billion people in 149 endemic countries These infections kill or cause disability among the world's poorest people who live mainly in Africa, Latin America and South East Asia.Speaking at the Royal College of Physicians in London, where the new private-public initiative was announced, Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, said: "Many of the burdens [of NTDs] have come down but in fact they haven't come down nearly far enough...
