If the entire population of the European Union – estimated at 502.5 million people in January 2011 – were suffering from a variety of preventable or curable diseases it would hit the headlines. And if treatments existed but were not made available, or were not being developed because of a lack of r&d funding or lack of profit potential, it would rightly be an international scandal.
Yet around three times that number of people – an estimated 1.4 billion – are affected by some of the oldest and most horrific diseases on the planet.
It is no coincidence that those afflicted by these so-called Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) are among the poorest populations on earth. But while they may have been neglected until now, they have not been ignored. Medicine donation programmes have been in place for a number of years, and international agencies and philanthropic organisations have attempted to support the regions affected by endemic filariasis, sleeping sickness, leprosy, schistosomiasis, river blindness, Chagas disease and leishmaniasis, among others.
Put together the commitment of governments, the financial resources of the Gates Foundation and the intellectual property of Big Pharma, and suddenly the goal of controlling or eradicating NTDs within a decade doesn’t seem an impossible goal
However well intentioned, companies and organisations working in isolation cannot hold realistic hopes of making more than a small impact on such an enormous and intractable problem. But when these resources are brought together under a common banner and with the guidance of the World Health Organisation, there is a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel.
Put together the commitment of some influential governments, the financial resources of the Gates Foundation and the World Bank and the knowledge and intellectual property of the likes of GSK, Abbott, Bayer, Sanofi and Pfizer, and suddenly the goal of controlling or eradicating some or all of the NTDs within a decade doesn’t seem like such an impossible goal.
Perhaps the signatories of the London Declaration on NTDs will be inspired by the example of India. Once recognised as the world’s epicentre of polio, the country has now gone 12 months without a case of the disease.
To reach this point has required huge commitment and resources as well as firm leadership from the Indian government. But the fact that it has been achieved in some of the most challenging environments in the world must surely give grounds for hope among other neglected communities.