Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases

At the September 2006 Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting, former U.S. President Bill Clinton announced the launch of The Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases—the first-ever global effort to combat NTDs in an integrated framework. At the time, NTD control was seen as a monumental task, with 1.4 billion people infected with and suffering from NTDs around the world. Over the last decade, several organizations on the ground had made significant progress on individual diseases, but reaching more people in need of treatment in a cost-effective way required an integrated approach to combating NTDs collectively.^{[citation needed]}

Since its launch, the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases has expanded its activities in resource mobilization and advocacy aimed at controlling NTDs globally. Through collaborations with partner organizations, large populations in low-income settings have received access to low-cost packages of essential NTD medications.^[1]

Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a group of 13 parasitic and bacterial infections that infect approximately 1.4 billion of the world’s poorest people in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and South East Asia. Together, they disable, disfigure, blind, and even kill, causing chronic morbidity that is on par with the “big three” global health threats: HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria.^{[citation needed]}

The Global Network focuses on the seven most common NTDs that together represent 90% of the total NTD disease burden. These seven are:^{[citation needed]}

1. Ascariasis (roundworm) – 807 million infected
2. Trichuriasis (whipworm) – 604 million infected
3. Hookworm – 576 million infected
4. Schistosomiasis (snail fever) – 207 million infected
5. Lymphatic Filariasis (elephantiasis) – 120 million infected
6. Trachoma (blinding trachoma) – 84 million infected
7. Onchocerciasis (river blindness) – 37 million infected