Developing World Health Information

Developing World Health is a not for profit Company with charitable status, focussed on the development & delivery of new treatments for certain neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), primarily in the developing world. The NTDs comprise mainly parasitic and bacterial infections and are the most common afflictions of humankind affecting some 1.4 billion people. The global health crisis in relations to the NTDs, demands a comprehensive and integrated response, with faster delivery of existing drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics to those most in need. While programmes to ensure access to current medicines can yield substantial benefits, they will not offer complete solutions. Many of the treatments available today are decades old and are often limited by problems of drug resistance, inadequate safety, and efficacy. For example, current treatments for river blindness (onchocerciasis) only kill immature parasitic worms in early stages of infection and are ineffective for advanced disease. Chagas disease has received proportionately little attention from medical science, yet this devastating illness, the world’s third most prevalent parasitic disease, is a leading health concern throughout South and Central America. Between 16 and 18 million people are infected, and 100 million more are at risk of contracting the parasite, which kills an estimated 45,000 people a year. There is currently no effective treatment available for Chagas disease.