WHO chief urges fight against "neglected" diseases

BANGKOK, Feb 1 (Reuters) The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) called today for a stepped up fight against ''neglected'' diseases afflicting 1 billion people, mainly in poor countries.

Margaret Chan, who took over as head of the UN agency last month, said ''ancient and entrenched'' diseases in the developing world caused far greater human suffering than emerging threats such as SARS and bird flu.

''But here is the difference: the neglected tropical diseases do not threaten international health and security,'' Chan told a health conference in Bangkok.

''They do not flare up in outbreaks with high mortality. They do not grab media headlines. They do not travel abroad or threaten international security,'' she said.

Chan named six diseases that maim, blind, disfigure and kill millions of the world's poor but are rarely seen in wealthier countries with higher living standards and better health care. They included ''snail fever'', or schistosomiasis, which is caused by a parasite and leaves people so weak they can't work.

It affects 160 million people in Africa alone, Chan said.

More than 40 million people, mainly in Africa and Asia, are disfigured by lymphatic filariasis, a parasitic disease that causes grotesque swelling of limbs.

These and other diseases are often neglected by drug companies, which had little incentive to develop drugs and vaccines for markets that cannot pay, Chan said.

When cheap and effective drugs do exist, she said, access was hampered by weak or non-existent health systems.

Chan said drug companies and governments have had some success in tackling these problems through public/private partnerships, but more needed to be done.

She called for more resources to expand the delivery of existing medicines and increased research into new treatments for neglected diseases.

Some health advocacy groups say publicly funded research plays a huge role in the development of new drugs and vaccines and governments should ensure more money is spent on fighting diseases that affect poor countries.

In a report issued last April, the Global Forum for Health Research said international experts found only 10 per cent of the world's resources for health research was spent on solving health problems in the developing world, where 90 per cent of curable diseases are found.

REUTERS AKJ BD149