Britain doubles funding to fight tropical diseases
The UK has pledged to double the funding it gives to fighting neglected tropical diseases, in a move that will protect more than 200 million people around the world from debilitating and painful conditions. The funding programme is expected to wipe out the parasitic disease visceral leishmaniasis in Asia, eliminate Guinea worm and save hundreds of thousands of people from blindness and other disabilities.
Speaking ahead of the World Health Organisation conference on neglected tropical diseases in Geneva on Wednesday, Priti Patel, the international development secretary, said such diseases belonged to the last century. "They cause unimaginable suffering and pain to some of the world's poorest people, forcing them into a deeper cycle of poverty with no way out. Yet they are treatable," said Patel.
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