Podcasts Health FutureTech Podcast Vaccine Development in the Non-Profit Sector for Diseases of Extreme PovertyPeter Jay Hotez, M.D., Ph.D.National School of Tropical Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine

Vaccine Development in the Non-Profit Sector for Diseases of Extreme PovertyPeter Jay Hotez, M.D., Ph.D.National School of Tropical Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine

Published: Dec. 2, 2019, 6:48 a.m.

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\\u201cGlobally, there are 750 million people who live below the World Bank poverty figure of $1.90 a day, and basically every one of them has at least one neglected tropical disease\\u2026now we know there are about 5.3 million Americans living in that same level of poverty, and they have neglected tropical diseases, so they\\u2019re not only the diseases of the poorest countries,\\u201d says Dr. Peter Jay Hotez, Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. There seems to be a vaccine or drug for most diseases that affect this great a number of people, or at least a worthy effort being put forth in the search for one. So, why is that not the case for the\\xa0global health issue\\xa0of neglected tropical diseases? As a disease of the poorest of the poor, the pharmaceutical industry has little interest in spending the resources on research and development for a treatment or curative solution. Consequently, the burden has fallen largely on the nonprofit sector. Dr. Hotez explains the current state of progress toward implementing widespread\\xa0vaccination for\\xa0some of the most common neglected tropical diseases, including schistosomiasis, Chagas disease, and\\xa0hookworm infection.\\xa0On today\'s episode, you will learn:

  • Where some of the most common neglected tropical diseases originate, how they are contracted, and what they do to the body
  • Why there are so many challenges to the development of vaccines in the nonprofit sector, and the importance of innovation in overcoming them
  • How much progress has been made toward developing vaccines for neglected tropical diseases
  • How the immune-masking properties of parasites prevent people from building immunity against them

Tune in for all of the details, visit\\xa0https://www.bcm.edu/education/schools/national-school-of-tropical-medicine/, and learn more by reading Dr. Hotez\\u2019s book,\\xa0Forgotten People, Forgotten Diseases: The Neglected Tropical Diseases and Their Impact on Global Health and Development.

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