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Neglected Tropical Diseases

New Sources of Funding Needed to Control and Eliminate Neglected Tropical Diseases

PloS.jpgAn editorial published by Sabin President Dr. Peter Hotez today in the Public Library of Science (PLoS) Neglected Tropical Diseases, calls on the G8, Gulf Cooperation Council nations, and neglected tropical disease (NTDs) endemic countries, such as Nigeria and Indonesia, to fund global NTD control efforts.

Despite a growing awareness of NTDs as both a global health and security threat, the burden of funding has been primarily shouldered by three nations—the United States, United Kingdom, and Japan, states Dr. Hotez in the editorial “Neglected Tropical Disease Control in the “Post-American World.”

Neglected Tropical Disease Control in the “Post-American World"
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Despite a growing awareness of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) as both a global health and security threat, the burden of funding has been primarily shouldered by three nations—the United States, United Kingdom, and Japan, states Dr. Peter Hotez in the editorial “Neglected Tropical Disease Control in the “Post-American World.”

Global Health Dignitaries Conclude Smallpox Eradication Symposium with Recommendations for Advancing Disease Eradication

Over 260 scientists, public health workers, historians and other professionals from 34 countries successfully closed the “Smallpox Eradication after 30 Years: Lessons, Legacies and Innovations” symposium today with a statement of recommendations to the global health community and general public.

In the statement
, participants observe that smallpox eradication removed from humanity a disease which killed an estimated 300 million individuals in the twentieth century alone. The global smallpox eradication program also led to several advancements including the expansion of national vaccination programs, use of epidemiological surveillance as a key tool in disease control, and, most significantly, great progress toward the global eradication of polio and Guinea Worm and the elimination of measles and rubella from the Americas.

Sabin Vaccine Institute, Fogarty International Center of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, and Fundação Oswaldo Cruz Convene Smallpox Eradication Symposium

bifurcated needle.jpgGlobal health dignitaries from 33 countries gather to share global health lessons, legacies and innovations post smallpox eradication

Thirty years after the eradication of smallpox, global health policymakers, practitioners and advocates have gathered to discuss the massive campaign to eradicate humanity’s greatest killer and how the campaign’s lessons and legacies relate to current and future global health priorities. The Sabin Vaccine Institute (Sabin), Fogarty International Center of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (FIOCRUZ) convened the symposium, “Smallpox Eradication after 30 Years: Lessons, Legacies and Innovations,” today in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

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Global Network's Mission

The Global Network, a major initiative of the Sabin Vaccine Institute, is an advocacy and resource mobilization program dedicated to helping control and eliminate the seven most common neglected tropical diseases (NTDs)—a group of disabling, disfiguring and deadly diseases affecting more than 1.4 billion people worldwide living on less than $1.25 a day. Our goal is to provide an advocacy platform for the NTD community that reaches the attention of policymakers, philanthropists, thought leaders and the general public.

Mapping of Neglected Tropical Diseases Critical to Control and Elimination Efforts

map_tab.jpgTo take full advantage of recent increased financial commitments from some governments, international agencies, and philanthropies, accurate and up-to-date mapping of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) needs to be implemented to help improve the precision of decision-making in NTD control and elimination, says a new editorial, "The Global Atlas of Helminth Infection: Mapping the Way Forward in Neglected Tropical Disease Control," published July 27 in the open-access journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

Gulf Coast must remain vigilant for new health threat

Global Network LogoThe Houston Chronicle published an op-ed yesterday, co-written by Sabin President Dr. Peter Hotez and American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) President Ed Ryan, calling attention to the potential widespread re-emergence of dengue fever and its dreaded complication, dengue hemorrhagic fever, in the Gulf Coast of the United States.

“Given the previous disasters in the Gulf region, including hurricanes and an oil spill, one would like to believe that by now the U.S. government has been deeply sensitized to the plight of poor people living in the coastal areas of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. For instance, it would make sense for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — the CDC - to increase its dengue surveillance efforts along the Gulf Coast, and possibly conduct additional studies to detect other diseases transmitted by insect vectors.

Dr. Neeraj Mistry named Managing Director, Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases

Global Network LogoSabin Vaccine Institute announced today that Dr. Neeraj Mistry has been appointed Managing Director of the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases (Global Network). Dr. Mistry will focus his talents on advocacy and resource mobilization efforts, creatively bringing likeminded groups and individuals together for the common purpose of controlling and eliminating neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).

“We are delighted that Dr. Mistry is joining the Global Network, where he will bring intellectual leadership and creative thinking to the development of the program’s important mission and goals.” said Michael W. Marine, CEO of the Sabin Vaccine Institute. “His exceptional research, planning and evaluation skills, as well as his extensive international experience, will help the Global Network achieve its overarching goal of bringing new resources to the fight against NTDs in endemic countries around the world.”

Vaccines Over Missiles

In a new op-ed published by the Ottawa Citizen today, Sabin President Dr. Peter Hotez urges the world's nuclear weapons states--where high rates of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) and roughly one-third of the world's parasitic worm infections occur--to "redirect scientists who work in poor countries to peacetime pursuits."

"Most North Americans and Russians are unaware that, 50 years ago, nations on both sides of the Cold War co-operated on a back channel scientific research and development effort that led to the joint development of the oral polio vaccine. Today that vaccine has become the major instrument for global polio eradication efforts.

The fact that the U.S. and Soviet Union could put aside their ideological differences shortly after the Sputnik launch at the height of the Cold War for purposes of scientific co-operation and vaccine development, suggests that India, Pakistan, and China, not to mention Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, and Syria, could do the same for neglected tropical disease vaccines."

Continue reading "Vaccines over missiles" here.