At a glance
- Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are infectious diseases that are largely preventable and treatable but continue to affect more than 1 billion people, causing painful disabilities, disfigurement, or death when left unaddressed.
- Effective treatment and control methods are available, but more investments are needed to expand access to drug treatments and improve diagnostic, disease mapping, and surveillance tools.
- We focus on eight NTDs that present the greatest opportunity for elimination or eradication. We facilitate the use of donated drugs and advance progress by supporting public health surveillance, vector control, and mass administration of drugs that treat multiple NTDs.
- We work with governments and other partners to secure more resources to accelerate progress toward our shared goal of a world free from the threat of NTDs.
Our strategy
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Areas of focus
Our team focuses on supporting the development of new tools and treatments as well as innovative approaches to improve delivery and mass disease surveillance to achieve significant progress against NTDs.
We support the development and delivery of new drugs, vaccines, diagnostics, and vector-control tools to improve approaches to endemic diseases and support the implementation of country-led programs. These advances have contributed to significant progress in recent years against the eight high-opportunity infectious diseases we target. For example:
We support efforts to develop coordinated and integrated strategies to address multiple infectious diseases at the same time, focusing on three main areas:
Why focus on neglected tropical diseases?
Our partners
Our partners
Uniting to Combat NTDs
Uniting to Combat NTDs is a coalition of organizations that provides funding, expertise, and resources to support the control and elimination of NTDs.
The END Fund
The END Fund is a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending NTDs through programs including its Accelerate Resilient, Innovative, and Sustainable Elimination of NTDs (ARISE) Fund.
The Carter Center
We support the Carter Center’s international campaign to eradicate Guinea worm disease in humans and animals by the end of 2030.
Sightsavers
We support the Sightsavers Accelerate program, which works to eliminate trachoma, the world’s leading infectious cause of blindness, from Africa.
DNDi
We provide support for DNDi’s research on onchocerciasis and sleeping sickness and its efforts to develop better, low-cost treatments for these diseases.
Global Institute for the Elimination of Infectious Diseases (GLIDE)
GLIDE works to advance policies to combat infectious diseases in the Middle East, neighboring countries, and globally and advocates for universal access to routine immunization for children.
Speak Up Africa
We provide strategic advocacy support to Speak Up Africa to accelerate progress on the control and elimination of malaria and NTDs, improved sanitation, and health R&D in West Africa.
The latest updates on neglected tropical diseases
Expert Q&A: How India took on a deadly neglected tropical disease
Take lessons from India’s efforts to fight and reduce visceral leishmaniasis, one of the many NTDs threatening to expand beyond tropical regions due to climate change.
President Jimmy Carter, champion of global health
People who have worked alongside President Jimmy Carter reflect on his remarkable leadership, vision, and humility when facing global health challenges.
Ending neglect, ending disease: River blindness in West Africa
To eliminate devastating tropical diseases, affected countries must make a serious financial commitment and donors and partners must cede ownership of programs to the people on the ground who understand what needs to be done.