Los Angeles Times: Guinea worm, river blindness and elephantiasis are among the world’s neglected tropical diseases. A battle is on to wipe them out
“…[T]he combined efforts of governments, nonprofit organizations, academia, and the private sector have helped combat neglected tropical diseases, or NTDs, during the last five years, according to a report published Thursday by Uniting to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases, the collective of partners. … The success has been largely driven by a combination of factors, including donations from the pharmaceutical industry of more than 1.8 billion treatments to impoverished communities. Since 2012, government donors and private philanthropists have invested close to $300 million a year toward control and elimination of the diseases, and in April governments and private donors pledged $812 million over the next five to seven years. Academic research and aggressive intervention programs, such as the mass dispensation of drugs by national governments, have also contributed to the progress in combating the diseases, the report says…” (Simmons, 12/14).

Thomson Reuters Foundation: Success as 1 billion treated in battle against painful tropical diseases
“…The 2012 London Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases, set a goal of controlling, eliminating, or eradicating 10 diseases, including leprosy and river blindness, by 2020. NTDs affect one in five people globally, mainly in areas of extreme poverty, often trapping individuals in a cycle of social exclusion. The number of people affected by NTDs has fallen to 1.5 billion from almost two billion in 2011, the report by Uniting to Combat NTDs, a partnership backing the 2020 goal, said…” (Lazareva, 12/14).