Published on GiveWell (http://givewell.org)

Home > Global Network for Neglected Tropical Disease Control (GNNTDC)

Global Network for Neglected Tropical Disease Control (GNNTDC)

GNNTDC seeks to coordinate the efforts of seven organizations that fight seven diseases in the developing world. These diseases cause a range of debilitating conditions, and can largely be prevented or treated by orally administering certain drugs 1-3 times per year; in Attachment B-13, GNNTDC proposes a program to deliver the medication for all seven diseases at once, which would presumably decrease the inefficiency caused by multiple organizations' distributing similar products to the same people. We find it possible that funding such a program can save people from extreme debilitation, with high cost-effectiveness, perhaps superior to that of our other finalists - but at this point we lack the information we would need to be confident. In particular, we do not have enough information on:
  1. How debilitating each disease's symptoms are, and how often. Our current understanding, summarized briefly on our problems and solutions page, is insufficient.
  2. How effective GNNTDC's proposed treatments can be expected to be for people at different stages of each disease.
  3. Results from past and ongoing projects in this area.
Regarding (1) and (2), GNNTDC sent us several papers, and we went thoroughly through the footnotes looking for information (all relevant attachments we found are included at the bottom of this review), but did not find the level of detail necessary to answer these questions. GNNTDC has informed us that the information we seek is publicly available, but that pulling it all together is a major ongoing project; we look forward to keeping up with the organization and relevant research, and learning more about these diseases and their treatments. Regarding (3), GNNTDC has informed us that results are available and have been presented at conferences, but not yet published for public consumption. Again, we are hoping to see them once they are available.

Attachments

A. Application and response

B. Program related attachments

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
GiveWell, aka The Clear Fund (a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) public charity)
320 7th Ave #232 - Brooklyn, NY 11215

About        Site Map        Contact       

Source URL (retrieved on 02/05/2012 - 08:58): http://givewell.org/international/charities/GNNTD/2007-Review