The South African Civil Society Information Service

Neglecting the Diseases of the Poor

3 Feb 2012

Here's another issue that the market has failed to respond to: "neglected tropical diseases", otherwise known as the diseases of the poorest people in the world.

There are a billion people in the world, many of whom can be found in sub-Saharan Africa, affected by tropical diseases linked to a lack of water and sanitation infrastructure. These diseases caused by worms, parasites and bacteria, disfigure, cripple and often kill people. Only 1% of the drugs that have been developed by pharmaceutical companies since the mid-70's has been for the research and development (R&D) of all the tropical diseases and tuberculosis put together.

Pharmaceutical companies focus on developing drugs for conditions prevalent in rich countries where the purchasing power of patients drives R&D.

Despite a new compact between pharmaceutical companies and the World Health Organisation aimed at wiping out and bringing tropical diseases under control by 2020, this picture has not significantly changed at all, says Tito Schoen-Angere, executive director at Medicins Sans Frontiers, raising concerns about the new initiative's potential to reach its goal. He argues that more needs to be done to develop drugs, tools and treatments for the world's poorest people.

Read more articles filed under Videos.

Read more articles tagged with: healthcare, tropical diseases.

You can find this page online at http://sacsis.org.za/site/article/1193.