One World Health: Neglected Tropical Diseases in a Flat World

In The World Is Flat and his other landmark books on globalization, journalist, columnist, and author Thomas Friedman eloquently articulates the prospect of a new world order and economy as a consequence of emerging new technologies, business practices, and world events [1]. Heading the list of “flatteners” that have leveled the new economic world are Netscape and the Web, common software platforms from Microsoft and elsewhere, search engines, open access and open sourcing, outsourcing, offshoring, supply chaining and insourcing, and mobile phones and other personal digital devices [1]. At the same time, globalization has also emerged as an important force in revealing the devastating health and economic impact of disease on human populations worldwide [2]. Through open access, PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases is helping to increase awareness of the neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) as the most common infections of the “bottom billion,” i.e., the world's poorest people living on less than US$1 per day in developing countries [3]. By causing adverse effects on child development and learning, pregnancy outcome, and agricultural productivity, the NTDs are emerging as one of the most important group of infections that trap the poorest people living in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and the Americas in a cycle of poverty and destitution [2],[3]. The NTDs both occur in the setting of poverty and promote poverty [3].