"What are neglected diseases"?
"Diseases are considered neglected when treatments either don't exist in that situation or they are inadequate. Neglected diseases mainly affect people in developing countries as in many countries of Africa and Asia. The term 'most neglected' is used to mean diseases that occur among people who are so poor that there is no hope for purchasing treatments."

"But why aren't more treatments available?"
"Millions of people {kids and families like us}, die each year of preventable and treatable diseases. Communicable diseases such as AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria killed 14 million people world-wide in 1999. 97% of these occurred in developing countries." (1)
"In other words, cures exist?"
"Yes, for most of the neglected diseases, cures have been discovered in the industrialized Western world…mostly in the United States and Europe. In our country and in industrialized countries, there are many medicines available to us. But medicines and treatments for those in poorer, developing countries can be way too expensive to obtain. Their costs are simply too high."
"You mean more than the person even earns per year?"
"Definitely. Treatment becomes unattainable."
"Another reason for lack of treatment is that too little money is going into health research for the needs of the world's poorest people. Only 10% of global health research is devoted to 90% of the world's total health disease!"
"Why is that?"
"Research companies in the industrialized world do not often view these diseases as a threat to their populations, and most research-based drug companies do not invest money in programs which are not going to earn profits for their shareholders."
"And I read that tropical diseases are good examples of neglected diseases. Of the 1,393 total new drugs approved between 1975 and 1999, only 1% (13 drugs), were specifically developed for a tropical disease." (2)

"As you can see from this graph that I read from Doctors without Borders, the neglected diseases are only a very small portion of new drugs targeted by pharmaceutical companies. A recent survey done by DND, also revealed that out of an estimated 30 billion dollars of total public spending (that includes government spending for research in institutes, universities, and government facilities), on health research worldwide, only a little more than an estimated 100 million dollars was spent annually for four of the most neglected diseases combined!" (5)
"Wow...that is amazing!"
"What about governments in the developing countries?"
"From what I read, there are African Heads of State who care to make changes, but many government leaders are not supporting the costs of research."
"I guess without research, better and more cost-effective drugs will not be available."
"And many times, even if drugs are available, lack of funds to discover infected areas in rural villages makes treatment unattainable!"
"I need to think more about how we can help. In the meantime, for more facts about the most neglected diseases, just read below."