title: Eliminating the Neglected Tropical Diseases: Translational Science and New Technologies.
abstract: Today, the World Health Organization recognizes 17 major parasitic and related infections as the neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). Despite recent gains in the understanding of the nature and prevalence of NTDs, as well as successes in recent scaled-up preventive chemotherapy strategies and other health interventions, the NTDs continue to rank among the world's greatest global health problems. For virtually all of the NTDs (including those slated for elimination under the auspices of a 2012 London Declaration for NTDs and a 2013 World Health Assembly resolution [WHA 66.12]), additional control mechanisms and tools are needed, including new NTD drugs, vaccines, diagnostics, and vector control agents and strategies. Elimination will not be possible without these new tools. Here we summarize some of the key challenges in translational science to develop and introduce these new technologies in order to ensure success in global NTD elimination efforts.
authors.affiliation: Sabin Vaccine Institute and Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, National School of Tropical Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, United States of America.
authors.forename: Peter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Hotez
authors.affiliation: Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi), Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pecoul
authors.affiliation: Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi), Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Suman
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rijal
authors.affiliation: Foundation for Innovative new Diagnostics (FIND), Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Catharina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Boehme
authors.affiliation: Yale School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America.
authors.forename: Serap
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aksoy
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Medical Research, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
authors.forename: Mwelecele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Malecela
authors.affiliation: Carlos Slim Foundation, Mexico City, Mexico.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tapia-Conyer
authors.affiliation: UNICEF/UNDP/ World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR), Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: John C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Reeder
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003140:Communicable Disease Control / Q000379:methods*; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D060740:Disease Eradication; D006801:Humans; D058069:Neglected Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D057170:Translational Research, Biomedical; D014329:Tropical Climate