On Thursday, the open-access journal, PLoS NTDs, celebrated its fifth anniversary. To commemorate this great achievement, the journal compiled editorials and research papers published over the last five years to create a collection called “The Geopolitics of NTDs.”

The collection focuses on the geographic distribution of NTDs by region, inspiring readers to think about the significant regional differences among NTDs and the populations they impact. For example, the major NTDs found in Latin America and Caribbean and their socio-economic effects are quite different than those found in South Asia.

However, there is one overriding similarity in NTD infections across the globe,—they disproportionately infect people living in extreme poverty. As PLoS NTDs editors Dr. Peter Hotez and Dr. Serap Askoy explain in an exclusive interview with PLoS’  “Speaking of Medicine” blog:

“Wherever we find poverty we find the NTDs, whether it’s in Uganda or in the United States.”

Since it began publication in 2007, PLoS NTDs has become invaluable to the global health community. Thanks to support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, PLoS has been able to offer its readers open access to all of its research and editorials—fulfilling an underserved need in the community.

You can download the special collection on the PLoS NTDs homepage and read the full question and answer interview with Drs. Hotez and Askoy at http://www.plosntds.org.