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10/11/2005:

"Cash plea to fight Africa's forgotten diseases that kill 500,000 a year"

Scientists have called for a more balanced approach in distributing the billions of pounds available for controlling tropical diseases. In a paper published today, they said that a focus by governments and charities on the big three tropical diseases - HIV, malaria and tuberculosis - had left millions of the poorest people in Africa without treatment for a range of illnesses.

The neglected diseases, which include schistosomiasis, river blindness, ascariasis, elephantiasis and trachoma, affect more than 750 million people and kill at least 500,000 every year.
guardian.co.uk