By Donald R. Hopkins

The recent global campaign launched against a select number of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) is a welcome development. But we should be as careful about measuring progress toward the control or elimination of these diseases as we are about choosing which ones to target.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has done the world a great service by raising awareness of the need and opportunity to reduce poverty by addressing certain NTDs that are associated with poverty. In October, it issued its first report on the extent of NTDs and set out a plan for collective action against 17 of them, from Chagas disease to leprosy to Guinea worm disease (https://www.who.int/neglected_diseases/2010report/en/index.html/).

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Image by The Carter Center/Louise Gubb