• A new report has found that the Indian government is the fourth largest funder for research and development into neglected tropical diseases. US is the largest funder with USD 1,595 million while Indian government contributed USD 72 million.
• The findings come from an analysis of global investment into research and development (R&D) on new products for neglected diseases in developing countries, as part of the eleventh annual G-Finder survey.
• The survey looks at funding for several diseases like trachoma, buruli ulcer, rheumatic fever, meningitis, leptospirosis and for HIV/AIDS, malaria, TB, dengue, hepatitis C and leprosy.

Need for drug:

• The need for drugs for neglected diseases and for drug R&D is high in India. The country tops the number of cases for 11 different neglected tropical diseases such as lymphatic filariasis, visceral leishmaniasis, trachoma, tapeworm, roundworm, hookworm, whipworm, dengue and leprosy.
• In 2017, there were around 2.8 million new cases of TB, which brought down the global decline of TB. One third of all TB deaths worldwide happen in India.
• According to the G-Finder report, TB research gets the largest of all Indian government funding, with Rs 147 crore (30%). Malaria is a close second with Rs 115 crore (23%), while leprosy gets Rs 39 crore, dengue Rs 35 crore and HIV/ AIDS Rs 14 crore.
• This year, India maintains its position as the fourth largest government funder globally into neglected disease research. It tops among other compatriot LMICs, contributing 72% of all the funding towards neglected disease research.
• India also records the strongest global growth in public funding for R&D on neglected diseases since 2009.

About neglected disease:

• The people who are most affected by these diseases are often the poorest populations, living in remote, rural areas, urban slums or conflict zones. Neglected tropical diseases persist under conditions of poverty and are concentrated almost exclusively in impoverished populations in the developing world.
• Lacking a strong political voice, people affected by these tropical diseases have a low profile and status in public health priorities.
• Lack of reliable statistics and unpronounceable names of diseases have all hampered efforts to bring them out of the shadows. They include dengue, rabies, blinding trachoma, Buruli ulcer, endemic treponematoses (yaws), leprosy (Hansen disease), Chagas disease, human African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness), leishmaniasis, cysticercosis, dracunculiasis (guinea-worm disease), echinococcosis, foodborne trematode infections, lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis (river blindness), schistosomiasis (bilharziasis), soil-transmitted helminthiases (intestinal worms).
• Neglected tropical diseases affect more than 1 billion people, primarily poor populations living in tropical and subtropical climates. They are frequently clustered together geographically and individuals are often afflicted with more than one parasite or infection. More than 70% of countries and territories that report the presence of neglected tropical diseases are low-income or lower middle-income economies.
• Infections are caused by unsafe water, poor housing conditions and poor sanitation. Children are the most vulnerable to these diseases, which kill, impair or permanently disable millions of people every year, often resulting in life-long physical pain and social stigmatization.
•  Many neglected tropical diseases can be prevented, eliminated or even eradicated with improved access to existing safe and cost-effective tools. Control relies on simple interventions that can be carried out by non-specialists -- for example schoolteachers, village heads and local volunteers -- in community-based preventive action.