Schistosome worms infect hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Researchers have discovered how to use inexpensive drones to identify disease hotspots in remote African villages.
Millions of young children get malaria. These two got it in 2010.
AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam
There's a big market for new treatments for TB, malaria and other ailments. But most of these diseases afflict low-income people unable to pay for medicine.
Climate change also has an impact on public health.
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A cure for many tropical diseases was discovered 30 years ago this month. The drug is donated by its manufacturer. Why are we still dealing with neglected tropical diseases?
New World Health Organisation Director-General De Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Reuters/Denis Balibouse
Scabies was one of the scourges of those on the First Fleet, but no longer known for most in Australian society. However, in the far remote North, scabies infection is endemic.
Children living in areas with poor sanitation and hygiene account for 60% of people around the world infected with intestinal worms.
Marcos Brindicci/Reuters
There's a growing body of evidence that shows we could be doing more for the close to billion children at risk of intestinal worms. We simply cannot afford to ignore it.
Children living in tropical countries and in poverty often have high rates of infection with the scabies mite.
UNICEF Ethiopia/flickr
A century and a half after buruli ulcer was discovered, the disease continues to mystify scientists.
A father reads to his son while sitting under a mosquito net. Mosquitoes have undergone evolutionary changes due to long-lasting insecticide-treated nets.
Georgina Goodwin and Vestergaard Frandsen
Although there have been global efforts to eliminate parasites, some parasites and vectors will have survived attack because they have evolved resistance.
The drug that led to two scientists wining the Nobel Prize for Physiology or medicine has made a significant difference for those suffering from elephantiasis and river blindness.
Improving maternal mortality and ending preventable deaths in children are some of the health targets in the Sustainable Development Goals.
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade/Flickr
Health has secured its place as one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. But without clear mechanisms to report, finance or engage other sectors, could more end up as less?
A man undergoes “xenodiagnosis” for Chagas disease in the Argentine province of Corrientes. In this procedure, uninfected triatomine bugs feed on the blood of patients. Later examination of these insects may reveal parasites acquired from infected blood.
German Pomar/Reuters
This parasitic infection is endemic in Central and South America, and can lead to serious health complications. Though rare in the US, incidence is starting to increase.
Ebola isn’t the only disease we need to worry about.
Jason Reed/Reuters
Some experts worry that the Ebola crisis is diverting attention and resources away from neglected diseases with a substantially larger disease incidence.
Onchocerca volvulus emerging from a blackfly’s antenna.
US Department of Agriculture
Onchocerciasis, or river blindness as it’s more commonly known, is a major public health problem in the wet tropics, and especially in tropical Africa. This eye and skin disease is caused by a filaria…
An adult black fly with the parasite Onchocerca volvulus coming out of the insect’s antenna.
United States Department of Agriculture
In sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Latin America, there is a parasitic worm that infects about 25m people, causing serious skin diseases, epilepsy and blindness. Known as Onchocerca volvulus, it can live…
In rural sub-Saharan Africa, a child who wants to succeed in school faces an uphill struggle. Families often lack the income they need to pay school fees and those who are fortunate enough to attend may…
Group Leader, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute. Associate Professor, Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne. Paediatric Infectious Diseases Physician, Royal Children's Hospital, Murdoch Children's Research Institute
Visiting Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies, Brown University, USA, and Distinguished Professor, Public Health and Medical Anthropology, University of the Witwatersrand