Historical Context and NTD Overview

• 1014: Byzantine Emperor Basil II defeated Bulgarian army, captured 15,000 prisoners
  • Blinded 99 out of every 100 prisoners
  • Left 100th with one eye to guide others home
  • Strategy to weaken opponents for decades by forcing communities to care for disabled
• NTDs (Neglected Tropical Diseases) compared to this cynical attack
• 1 in 7 humans on planet suffers from one or more NTDs
  • More than entire population of Europe
• Destroy billions of dollars in income annually
• Weaken communities and slow progress

Nature and Impact of NTDs

• Caused by vast range of parasites: worms, amoeba, bacteria, viruses
• Diverse nightmare symptoms:
  • Hookworms: compete with children's brains/bodies for nutrition
    • Stunt growth and impair intelligence
  • Some cause blindness from eye infections
  • Others confine patients to bed for months
  • Damage internal organs, shorten lifespans
  • Cause horrible disfigurements leading to social stigma, shame, unemployment
  • Some incredibly agonizing with continuous itching or horrible pain

Case Study: Dracunculiasis (Guinea Worm)

• Infection through contaminated water
• No symptoms for one year
• Blister appears on leg, worm breaks through skin to release larvae
• Removal: slowly pull out centimeter by centimeter over several weeks
• Worm up to one meter long
• 1985: 3.5 million cases worldwide
• 2015: 22 cases
• Killed 99.999% of these parasites
• Will be first parasite eradicated for good

Target Demographics and Challenges

• Preferably attack humans in most isolated communities
• Least able to defend themselves
• Villages 500 km from nearest health facility with no roads
• Even if remedy available, difficult odyssey to reach patients

Global Eradication Program

• Possibly biggest medical program in human history
• Unmatched in scale
• Organizations from all fields working together
• Goal: eliminate 10 NTDs forever
• Every NTD preventable or treatable
• Requires medicine distribution to every person in high-risk areas
• Millions of doses needed for several NTDs simultaneously over years
• Countries with no infrastructure

Pharmaceutical Industry Response

• Stepped in to distribute necessary drugs for free
• Promise to continue until 10 diseases gone
• By 2020: nearly $18 billion worth of drugs distributed
  • Largest drug donation world has ever seen
• Helped ensure drugs reach needed locations
• 2015 alone: treatments reached over 850 million people
  • More than population of EU and US combined

Media Coverage and Conclusion

• Bad news generates headlines
• Hundreds of millions overcoming diseases in unprecedented cooperation doesn't
• Good things happen constantly
• Moving humanity toward future with no suffering
• Species can do great things with no motivation other than helping each other