In an effort to reduce and eliminate Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), thirteen pharmaceutical companies, the US, UK. and United Arab Emirates governments, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Bank and other groups pledged expanding drug donation and providing $785 million dollars to support research. The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA), which represents the pharmaceutical companies, announced that the almost 1.4 billion treatments will be donated each year until 2020. The goals of these donations are to treat lymphatic filariasis, leprosy and blinding trachoma. Funding will be used to research treatments for “Guinea worm disease and expedite progress toward the 2020 goals of elimination for lymphatic filariasis, blinding trachoma, sleeping sickness and leprosy, and control of soil-transmitted helminthes, schistosomiasis, river blindness, Chagas disease and visceral leishmaniasis” according to a press release. These diseases account for 90% if the NTDs worldwide. More information can be found at Uniting to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases.
