Neglected tropical diseases are the landmines of global health | Albert Picado and John H Amuasi

They are 20 disparate diseases that, like mines, unduly affect the world's poorest people. Now there's a plan to eradicate them by 2030

In January the World Health Organization launched a new strategy for eradicating neglected tropical diseases, boldly setting targets to eliminate 20 of them by 2030.

But what are neglected tropical diseases (NTDs)? There is no easy answer. The concept was first proposed in the early 2000s to bring to light a group of diseases that disproportionately affect poor people yet, despite their collective impact, do not attract as much attention as diseases such as HIV/Aids, malaria or tuberculosis.