Abstract

Prof. Croft is Head of Dept. of Infectious and Tropical Diseases in London School of Hygiene and Tropical medicine, University of London. He was R & D Director at the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi) in Geneva from 2004 to 2007.

This year, DNDi and the World Health Organization (WHO) again urged the G8 governments to support research & development for the so-called neglected diseases. New and better-adapted treatments are desperately needed for diseases that impact millions of lives, yet they are neglected by the global public health agenda. That statement called upon the world’s wealthiest nations to “commit resources for .. sustainable financial mechanisms to .. support innovation required to meet the priority health needs of developing countries” (see http://www.dndi.org/ for full text). Why have these diseases been so neglected? Why are they primarily diseases of poverty? And what new initiatives are springing up to address this neglect? This talk will look at the problem from many angles: biological sciences, economics, clinical medicine, implementation and ethics – with a dose of pragmatism in a complex world.

The seminar will be followed by discussion and wine.