International Health Experts Call for More Focus on Neglected Diseases To Help Tackle HIV/AIDS, TB, Malaria

Preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria would be easier if more resources were directed to combating other tropical diseases that receive less attention, health and aid experts said Monday, the Associated Press reports. At a conference at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, organized by the U.N. Millennium Project to advance the project's malaria initiative, experts said the prevalence of neglected diseases, such as schistosomiasis and hookworm, undermines efforts to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria because coinfection with tropical diseases can affect treatment outcomes. The experts said addressing neglected diseases "in tandem with" HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria would require about $1 billion to treat 500 million people over five years, the AP reports (Heintz, Associated Press, 1/30).