GHIT Fund Launches NTDpedia to Raise Awareness of Neglected Tropical Diseases

The Global Health Innovative Technology (GHIT) Fund has launched a new interactive educational website, NTDpedia, to raise awareness about neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). The initiative aims to address the lack of public knowledge about these diseases, which affect over 1.5 billion people globally, by providing a user-friendly, visually intuitive digital encyclopedia.

NTDs, such as schistosomiasis, lymphatic filariasis, and onchocerciasis, remain severely underfunded and overlooked. These diseases contribute to a vicious cycle of poverty and illness, as they are often exacerbated by poor sanitation, inadequate healthcare infrastructure, and climate change. The GHIT Fund hopes that NTDpedia will help transform this apathy into action by making NTDs more understandable and relatable to the general public.

The website, developed under the supervision of Prof. Kenji Hirayama from Nagasaki University, covers the 21 disease groups recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO). It introduces two distinct visual discovery frameworks to help users navigate and understand these complex conditions. The second framework, "Categorized Visual Transmission," organizes diseases by their transmission routes, including parasites, bacteria, viruses, insects, other animals, water/soil, and other routes.

Osamu Kunii, CEO of the GHIT Fund, emphasized the importance of awareness in driving public support for research and development of drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics for NTDs.

NTDs are a significant challenge to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG 3), which aims to end epidemics of NTDs by 2030. Despite the clear mandate to leave no one behind, NTDs remain severely underfunded and overlooked. The GHIT Fund envisions NTDpedia becoming a valuable resource for anyone interested in these diseases, from students and teachers to companies and advocates. By making these diseases visible and understandable, the GHIT Fund hopes to build public support that drives investment in research and development.

The GHIT Fund is a Japan-based international public-private partnership (PPP) that was formed between the Government of Japan, multiple pharmaceutical companies, the Gates Foundation, Wellcome, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The fund invests in and manages an R&D portfolio of development partnerships aimed at addressing neglected diseases, such as malaria, tuberculosis, and NTDs, which affect the world's vulnerable and underserved populations. In collaboration with global partners, the GHIT Fund mobilizes Japanese industry, academia, and research institutes to create new drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics for malaria, tuberculosis, and NTDs.