Earlier this year, President Bush said the United States would spend $350 million over five years to fight seven of the world's most common parasitic and bacterial diseases affecting hundreds of millions of people in tropical regions of the world. A Washington-based global health network is urging Congress to fully fund the initiative, and encouraging other developed nations to join the effort. VOA's Michael Bowman reports.



Battles against HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis regularly grab international headlines and are the focus of multi-billion dollar global health initiatives. But many other diseases are equally widespread and cause massive suffering in scores of countries, yet rarely seem to capture the world's attention. Called "neglected tropical diseases", they include river blindness, elephantiasis, snail fever, and hookworm, roundworm and whipworm.

Tommy Thompson (file photo)