I’ve just returned from London, where the Gates Foundation, World Health Organization, and 13 of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies announced a new effort  to end or control — by 2020 — ten neglected tropical diseases, which affect more than 1 billion people worldwide. The emphasis of this commitment is on the continued, and in some cases expanded, donation of existing drugs. Some of the participants announced new commitments of funds, such as the Gates Foundation’s commitment to spend more than $360 million over the next five years toward discovery as well as delivery funding.

One of the best remarks of the day came from Dr. Caroline Anstey, Managing Director of the World Bank, who referred to these diseases as “diseases of neglected people,” rather than “neglected diseases.” This simple revision serves to remind us of the basic fact that poverty and neglect of populations create the environment that allows these diseases, most of which are unknown in the developed world, to thrive in other parts of the world. Bill Gates and others spoke to the circularity and reinforcing effect of poverty and disease—and to reversing the cycle: for example, health improvements in turn lead to improvements in education and thus improvements in earning power and quality of life. Stephen O’Brien, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the UK’s Office of International Development, agreed, remarking that “tackling neglected tropical diseases is one of the best value-for-money opportunities around.”

Many of the participating companies are also members of WIPO Re:Search, the knowledge-sharing initiative for neglected tropical disease research that BVGH co-administers with the World Intellectual Property Organization, or WIPO. Chris Viehbacher, Sanofi’s CEO, referred to WIPO Re:Search in his remarks, and put forward a commitment from Sanofi in WIPO Re:Search to provide more full-time employee effort toward neglected tropical disease research and development (R&D). Adding resources to neglected disease control, including R&D, is always a positive development. The collective representation in the room not only from industry and funders, but also from endemic country representatives, showed a renewal and extension of support from all sides.

This is the first post in my new role as CEO of BVGH. In that capacity I found the sessions in London to be especially timely for our work; neglected tropical diseases are assuming more importance on the world stage, and attracting more effort and resources — from industry and other sources — to tackle them. This makes our work at BVGH all the more relevant and important. In this time of transition, I would also like to thank and acknowledge the help and support of Melinda Moree, our former CEO. Melinda is one of the leading lights of the global health community, and I look forward to working with her in her new role as Executive Chair of BVGH. I know that Melinda will continue to make a vital impact on global health, and congratulate her on her success with the organization during her tenure. These are exciting, challenging times and I am excited to share them with you.

Don Joseph is the CEO of BIO Ventures for Global Health