Josh Witten

Earlier this March, Science featured an interesting editorial by Peter Hotez of George Washington University and the Sabin Vaccine Institute. In this editorial, Hotez suggests that shared effort to combat infectious disease through vaccine research and distribution was an important source of cooperation between otherwise adversarial nations during the Cold War.

When the United States and Soviet Union entered a deep Cold War chill after the 1957 Sputnik launch, they also entered into a little-known scientific collaboration that led to one of the most important medical advances of the 20th century. . .Soviet and U.S. scientists. . .worked together to develop an oral polio vaccine that was deployed worldwide and ultimately eliminated the disease in most of the world by 2008. . .Similar international cooperative efforts with the Soviet Union led to an improved vaccine that eradicated naturally occurring smallpox by 1977.
-Peter Hotez

Based on that history, Hotez argues that developing and distributing vaccines for neglected tropical diseases might also provide a productive avenue of engagement between the United States and predominately Islamic countries, like Indonesia and Nigeria, where these diseases are common.

Joint scientific cooperation between the United States and technologically advanced member countries of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC)—especially the Asian OIC nations of Indonesia, Pakistan, and Malaysia, and selected Middle Eastern countries—could advance vaccine development for treating neglected tropical diseases in Islamic countries.
-Peter Hotez

Unfortunately (for those living where these diseases are common, not for those living without fear of these tropical diseases), the nations with the biomedical research establishments best poised to develop vaccinations against these diseases are not at high risk, which reduces the incentives to work on these diseases. This has made funding for neglected tropical disease vaccine research primarily the domain of philanthropic institutions, like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

If you find Hotez's ideas convincing, or at least interesting, perhaps the incentives of improved diplomatic relations, national security, and stability might encourage governments like that of the United States to make vaccine research for neglected tropical diseases a high priority.

Front Page Image Adapted From: Leishmania in bone marrow, a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share-Alike (2.0) image from ajc1's photostream