Today’s issue of The New York Times features an op-ed from Sabin President Dr. Peter Hotez, entitled “Parasites in Paradise,” on the devastating effects of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) and neglected infections of poverty on impoverished communities around the world, including in the United States.

President Obama has started an ambitious global health initiative that will deliver urgently needed medicine and preventative care to hundreds of millions of people in poor countries. Included in the plan are efforts to devote resources to “neglected tropical diseases,” afflictions like hookworm infections, river blindness and elephantiasis that many think have gone the way of smallpox, but which still make up the most common ailments among the world’s bottom billion.

When we talk about these diseases, we tend to think of distant places like West Africa and South Asia. As we develop the plan, however, it’s crucial that we remember that they plague communities much closer to home as well.

Continue reading Dr. Hotez’ op-ed here.