Neglected Disease Crisis

Global Burden of Disease: Fact Sheet
Devastating infectious diseases cause widespread death with millions more at risk

• More than 10 million children under age from preventable or treatable diseases.
  
  
• Respiratory infections and diarrheal diseases together kill as many people as AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria combined.
  
  
• Serious pneumococcal diseases are the number one vaccine-preventable cause of death in children underage five. The WHO estimates that pneumococcal diseases claim the lives of up to one million children under five each year.
  
  
• Between two million and three million children in the developing world die each year from acute diarrheal illnesses (ADI) including rotavirus, enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC) and shigella. Some 60 percent of the deathsfrom diarrhea occur in 10 developing countries.
  
  
• Nearly 40 million people (including 2.3 million children) are currently living with HIV/AIDS—63 percent of whom live in Africa. In 2006, there were an estimated 4.3 million new infections worldwide.

Leading Causes of Mortality and Disease Burden from Infectious Diseases (2002)	Deaths (millions)	DALY’s (millions)
Respiratory Infections	3.9	94.6
HIV/AIDS	2.8	84.5
Diarrheal Diseases	1.8	62.0
Tuberculosis	1.6	34.7
Malaria	1.3	46.5

• The WHO has found multidrug-resistant strains of TB (MDR-TB) in every country worldwide. MDR-TB is resistant to at least isoniazid and rifampicin, the two principal first-line drugs. Seventy-nine percent of MDR-TB cases detected now show resistance to three or more drugs.
  
  
• Extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB), which is resistant to two first-line drugs and at least one secondline drug, has gained attention as it spreads rapidly through HIV-positive populations in South Africa.
  
  
• More than 2.4 billion people (40 percent of the global population) in over 100 countries are at risk for malaria.
  
  
• There are between 300 million and 500 million cases of acute malaria each year. Between 75 percent and 90 percent of those affected are in sub-Saharan Africa. Climate change could result in the expansion of this disease range.
  
  
• In malaria-endemic countries, infections account for between 30 percent and 50 percent of all inpatient admissions and up to 50 percent of outpatient clinic visits.
  

Chronic infections slow the economic development of afflicted countries.

• Chronic infections debilitate working adults and place undue burdens on countries.
  
  
• Studies show that chronic lymphatic filariasis patients lost one out of five of their productive working days each year.
  
  
• One-third of South Africa's workforce is HIV positive.
  
  
• Repeated bouts of childhood diarrheal infections are associated with malnutrition and growth stunting in children. Young children may suffer bouts of severe diarrhea 10 times a year, delaying and diminishing mental development.
  

 

Disease Burden vs. Health Care Investment
Limited developing world health care expenditures highlight global inequities

• The burden of disease in developing countries outstrips budgets for health care.
  
  
• Despite a pressing global burden, R&D spending on neglected diseases is far less than for Western diseases with similar mortality and morbidity profiles.

DALY: Disability Adjusted Life Year
The number of healthy years of life lost due to premature death and disability