PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases
May 2014
http://www.plosntds.org/article/browseIssue.action

Editorial
Ten Global “Hotspots” for the Neglected Tropical Diseases
Peter J. Hotez mail
Published: May 29, 2014
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0002496
Initial text
Since the founding of PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases more than six years ago, I have written about the interface between disease and geopolitics. The neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are the world’s most common infections of people living in poverty [1]. Where they are widespread in affected communities and nations, NTDs can be highly destabilizing and ultimately may promote conflict and affect international and foreign policy [2]. Many of the published papers in this area were recently re-organized in a PLOS “Geopolitics of Neglected Tropical Diseases” collection that was posted on our website in the fall of 2012, coinciding with the start of our sixth anniversary [3]. From this information, a number of new and interesting findings emerged about the populations who are most vulnerable to the NTDs, including the extreme poor who live in the large, middle-income countries and even some wealthy countries (such as the United States) that comprise the Group of Twenty (G20) countries [4], as well as selected Aboriginal populations [5]. Together, the PLOS “Geopolitics of Neglected Tropical Diseases” collection and the G20 analyses identified more than a dozen areas of the world that repeatedly show up as ones where NTDs disproportionately affect the poorest people living at the margins. Here, I summarize what I view as ten of the worst global “hotspots” where NTDs predominate (Figure 1). They represent regions of the world that will require special emphasis for NTD control and elimination if we still aspire to meet Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and targets by 2015; they are regions that may need to be highlighted again as we consider post-MDG aspirations and new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Viewpoints
The Gulf Coast: A New American Underbelly of Tropical Diseases and Poverty
Peter J. Hotez, Kristy O. Murray, Pierre Buekens
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases: published 15 May 2014 | info:doi/10.1371/journal.pntd.0002760

Building Endogenous Capacity for the Management of Neglected Tropical Diseases in Africa: The Pioneering Role of ICIPE
Daniel K. Masiga, Lilian Igweta, Rajinder Saini, James P. Ochieng’-Odero, Christian Borgemeister
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases: published 15 May 2014 | info:doi/10.1371/journal.pntd.0002687