Blog

30 January 2023 marks the fourth annual observance of World Neglected Tropical Diseases Day, dedicated to serving ‘as a catalyst to translate awareness into action, secure increased resources for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), and facilitate political leadership and ownership of NTD programs from affected countries’ (World NTD Day).

In honor of World NTD Day, we’re exploring the NTD global health agenda and some of the cutting-edge open access neglected tropical diseases research published with Gates Open Research.

Global 2030 NTD targets

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has defined 20 diverse conditions as NTDs – a group of preventable and treatable diseases that, historically, have ranked very low on the global health agenda.

An estimated 1.7 billion people are affected by NTDs every year, with approximately 200,000 deaths annually, and wide-ranging social, economic, and educational impacts from disability, stigmatization, and more. Additionally, NTDs disproportionately impact the world’s most vulnerable communities, leading to a cycle of poverty.

To combat the neglect of these diseases in world health initiatives, NTDs have come increasingly into focus in recent years, including a WHO Roadmap in 2012 and the subsequent WHO 2021 – 2030 NTD Roadmap.

Global 2030 targets set out in this Roadmap include a 90% reduction in the number of people requiring NTD treatment; a 75% reduction in disability-adjusted life years (DALY); the elimination of at least one NTD from 100 countries; and the eradication of the dracunculiasis and yaws diseases.

To meet these targets, continued investment into research of novel treatments, preventative measures, drug delivery, diagnostic tools, and more will be critical, as well as sharing these findings openly.

Open research and neglected tropical diseases

As a result, NTDs are a strategic focus for the Gates Foundation, with over $US1.02 billion committed across 329 NTD grants since 1998.

A key part of delivering this strategic initiative is funding and sharing research that advances the global NTD agenda, including a commitment to publishing Gates-funded NTD research openly and transparently via Gates Open Research.

Benefits of open research for NTDs researchers

Not only does open research help to improve awareness of, and access to, the latest methods, analyses, and conclusions, it also helps to speed up research advancements.

Publishing all research outputs openly, from data and software to protocols and methods, enables better reproducibility of results and allows others to build on research more easily and quickly in evolving studies. Similarly, by publishing all research without restriction, including null or negative results, open research reduces unnecessary repetition of previous studies or methods, and instead places focus on conducting new, value-driven research.

Furthermore, publishing research open access can enable deeper collaboration between researchers and stakeholders outside of the scientific community, ensuring research has real-world impact and can be used by policymakers and wider decision-makers for informed, research-led action on NTDs.

Neglected tropical diseases research on Gates Open Research

A number of Gates-funded researchers in the NTD community have already published their findings open access with Gates Open Research.

2030 Goals for Neglected Tropical Diseases Collection

In this dedicated Collection, expert infectious disease modelers provide insights into the achievability, measurability, and timeline of some of the WHO 2030 NTD Goals, as well as identify potential challenges and areas of likely success.

These Open Letters cover analysis of several NTDs, including lymphatic filariasis, Chagas disease, scabies, rabies, yaws, and trachoma.

Read all the insights from the Collection here.

Diverse NTD research

Outside of the dedicated Collection on the WHO 2030 Goals, NTD research on Gates Open Research covers a wide range of topics.

Just a snapshot of this research includes:

• A Study Protocol from Krolewiecki et al. outlining a clinical trial of a novel drug combination for treating soil-transmitted helminths, otherwise known as parasitic worms such as the roundworm, whipworm, and hookworm, which was the fifth most-read article on Gates Open Research in 2022.
• A Research Article from Grubin et al. examining the importance of high-quality, timely data in achieving the goals of NTD programs, and presenting a use case analysis of the routine data used by national NTD programs targeting lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis, soil-transmitted helminthiasis, and trachoma to improve data use in decision-making.
• A 2018 study from Cromwell et al., assessing the impact of the Guinea Worm Eradication Program on levels of disability caused by dracunculiasis from 1990 to 2016, expressed as disability-adjusted life years (DALY). The study found that between 990,000 to 1.9 million DALYs have been averted as a result of the eradication program.

Publish your own neglected tropical diseases research today

If you’re a Gates-funded researcher conducting research in NTDs, you can publish your findings for free with Gates Open Research.

Find out more and submit your research today.