Authored by Marta Ribes, Predoctoral Researcher and Co-ordinator of the Noma Echoes project at ISGlobal, Barcelona.

Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) are more than just a collection of illnesses; they are an epidemiological reflection of global health inequities. Unlike other diseases that can be categorised by biological traits, NTDs are primarily linked by the social conditions that allow them to thrive. All of them disproportionally affect impoverished populations, those populations historically without voice and without interest for for-profit markets. In this sense, they could be called diseases of neglected populations, an approach used by organisations such as Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi).

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.