The South China Sea and Its Neglected Tropical Diseases

The international maritime disputes in the South China Sea have now escalated following China’s construction of man-made islands and a new United States Naval presence that includes a guided missile destroyer. However, territorial claims between the nations surrounding these waters are not new. As both a major global shipping lane (it is considered one of the most trafficked sea lanes in the world) and host to significant oil and energy reserves, the numerous archipelago islands, straits, and shoals that comprise the sea (Fig 1) have been hotly contested for decades. Each of the eight nations that border on the South China Sea—Brunei, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, and Vietnam—has a major strategic interest in these latest foreign policy twists. Together, these countries are home to almost 2 billion people and have a total gross domestic product that exceeds US$10 trillion [1,2]. However, the