Fighting Tropical Diseases
By Jeffrey D. Sachs and Peter J. Hotez
THE GLOBAL FIGHT AGAINST EXTREME POVERTY REQUIRES A SOLID PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN physical scientists, social scientists, civil society, and policy-makers. For too long, extreme poverty has been viewed mainly or exclusively through the lens of economics and politics. Yet the root causes of extreme poverty involve science-based challenges requiring expertise in disciplines including disease ecology, medicine, public health, climatology, agronomy, and soil science. A new effort to control several of the major killer infectious diseases in Africa (www.earth.columbia.edu/malaria-ntd) illustrates the promise of a science-based policy approach to the fight against poverty, hunger, and disease.