- Engineering a Healthy Tomorrow for the Poorest Billion, By Muhammad H Zaman, February 1, 2012, Huffington Post: “It is not everyday that you hear the words big Pharma, billionaires, philanthropists and eradication of diseases in the same sentence. Well, Monday, January 30th was one such spectacular day. Bill Gates, WHO Director General, leaders of major Pharmaceutical companies and senior government officials from around the globe unveiled in London, a joint declaration and a strategy to rid the world of ten neglected diseases that afflict the poorest of the poor in the world within a decade. The vision, goal and mission is bold, tremendously exciting, timely and hopefully a catalyst for a healthier world for all…”
- Joint Effort Announced Against Tropical Diseases, By Donald G McNeil Jr., January 30, 2012, New York Times: “Thirteen drug companies, the governments of the United States, Britain and the United Arab Emirates, the World Bank, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Lions Club and other smaller charitable organizations on Monday announced a joint effort to tackle 10 neglected tropical diseases in a coordinated fashion.The diseases, with multisyllabic names like lymphatic filariasis, visceral leishmaniasis and dracunculiasis, are almost never found in rich countries. Most are usually not fatal – but they still ruin the lives of subsistence farmers and rural craftsmen by causing blindness, grotesque swelling, chronic anemia, excruciating pain or other symptoms…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty