Editorial On 30 January, Bill Gates, Margaret Chan, the DirectorGeneral of the World Health Organization, CEOs of major pharmaceutical companies, senior government officials from donor and endemic countries gathered in London together with NGOs and academic institutions, at a meeting entitled “Uniting to Combat NTDs: Ending the Neglect and Reaching the 2020 Goals” http:// www.unitingtocombatntds.org to announce a massive expansion of the support to control and potentially eliminate or eradicate a group of seventeen Neglected Tropical Diseases. The meeting was convened by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Since 2004 there has been a gradual but increasing recognition of the importance of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) as an impediment to development. If the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which relate to health, are to be achieved then controlling only HIV, tuberculosis and malaria will not alone address the needs of the poorest. It is essential the so called “other diseases” of the MDGs are given a high priority on the global Health agenda. The London meeting is the culmination of the efforts by many interested partners from diverse constituencies. These groups working together, since the publication in 2010 of the first WHO Report” Working to overcome neglected Tropical Diseases” have recognised the importance of NTDs as impediments to development. It is also important to note that these conditions touch the “bottom billion” but can be addressed either with available tools or through targeted research to develop new products and tools within an acceptable time frame to address well defined needs. Endemic countries, international agencies, bilateral and philanthropic donors, academia and nongovernmental organisations as well as existing global partnership organisations are coming togetherall committed to achieving unprecedented cooperation to solve a major health problem. The London meeting was a landmark in public health cooperation setting the agenda for the next decade. The commitments made will bring hope providing the final nail in the coffin of diseases which have plagued humanity for millennia. All parties present endorsed the “London” Declaration inspired by WHO’s Road Map on NTDs published on the 26 January. The road map sets targets for the period 2012-2020. WHO believes that despite the complexity of the NTDs, the targets are achievable. The Declaration commits partners to sustain and expand resources to achieve ambitious but welldefined and obtainable eradication, elimination or control targets. Partners will advance research and development, enhance collaboration on NTDs at national and international levels, work more effectively together, enable adequate funding for endemic countries to implement programmes, provide the technical support for evaluation and monitoring and provide regular updates towards the 2020 goals. The diseases embraced by this global movement do not have any formally structured single partnership but all constituencies share a strong commitment to support WHO’s strategies, goals and targets. These diseases have not suddenly emerged; they have been the subject of studies since the earliest days of the discipline of Tropical Medicine where the father of that discipline, Sir Patrick Manson, first discovered that insects were capable of transmitting infective agents when he discovered the mosquito transmission of filarial infections in China in 1879. During the last 8 years the messages articulated by advocates of NTD eradication, elimination and control have gradually been recognised by global health leaders and policy makers as amongst the best investments that a health dollar can buy. The term Neglected Diseases emerged in the 1980’s when the late Dr Ken Warren as Head of the Rockefeller health department introduced the term Great Neglected Diseases. The term fell into abeyance until it was adopted at the Berlin meetings of 2003 and 2004 organised by WHO and Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Correspondence: david.molyneux@liv.ac.uk Centre for Neglected Tropical Diseases, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Pembroke Place, Liverpool, L3 5QA, UK Molyneux Parasites & Vectors 2012, 5:23 http://www.parasitesandvectors.com/content/5/1/23