Dan Izzett wrote this poem while attending ‘The Politics of Disease Framing: Surviving and Overcoming Neglect’, an interdisciplinary workshop hosted by the Centre for Applied Human Rights, York Law School and partners in Geneva, May 2024.

Authored by Himani Bhakuni, João Nunes, Alice Trotter, Ioana Cismas, Claire Jeantet.

Neglected Tropical Diseases in context 

The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) held its first ever Health Day on 3 December  2023. On this occasion, a consortium of global donors pledged historic support to combat Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) (WHO News, 2023). A group of twenty-one diseases, NTDs affect preponderantly impoverished communities, have important human rights consequences, and have traditionally received little attention (see for example Hunt et al., 2007; Trotter & Cismas 2020).  The COP 28 pledge therefore has a twofold significance. In practical terms, NTDs will benefit from an unprecedented USD$777 million to strengthen research, programming, and front-line health systems. Symbolically, by associating NTDs with climate change – the challenge of our generation – COP28 elevated the salience of addressing NTDs among new audiences.