Gates Foundation and Partners Working to Eradicate Neglected Tropical Diseases by Leah Goldstein Moses

The Gates Foundation and several partners, including the U.S. and U.K. governments and pharmaceutical companies, have joined forces for research and programs that will aim to eradicate several diseases in less than a decade. Research has been slow, as the people most effected by lymphatic filariasis, blinding trachoma, sleeping sickness and leprosy, and control of soil-transmitted helminthes, schistosomiasis, river blindness, Chagas disease and visceral leishmaniasis are among the world’s poorest with the least access to advocacy tools.

Our client, Research!America, has been working for several months to increase support and investment in health research. We’ll be working with them in the months ahead to measure how support for research has changed over the years. As the Gates Foundation press release quotes, improved health research leads to better treatment, which in turn leads to many improved outcomes for people – including better health allowing children to attend school and parents to provide for families.