Foreword

Half the disease burden of the developing world – 80% of the world’s population – is due to infectious and parasitic diseases, most of which are preventable and/or treatable. More than 1 billion people is affected by at least one neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), primarily poor populations living in tropical and subtropical climates, with an approximated 534 000 deaths per year. These diseases have a huge impact on labor productivity and costs low-income countries billion of dollars a year, keeping up the vicious circle of poverty. Yet despite these alarming numbers, between 1975 and 1999 only thirteen new drugs were approved that targeted NTDs. Fortunately, over the past decade the tide has began to turn, in both recognizing the lack of new medicines dedicated to the diseases of the most neglected populations and in initiating efforts to redress the problem. In recent years, there has been a remarkable commitment on the part of ministries of health in endemic countries, global health initiatives, funding agencies and philanthropists escalated, as did donations of medicines from pharmaceutical companies and the engagement of the scientific community, having efforts towards the infectious diseases of the developing world. In this scenario, medicinal and synthetic chemists are of upmost importance, for designing, synthetizing and evaluating new drug candidates for parasitic and infectious diseases. This eBook is dedicated to the theme of “Recent Advances in the Synthesis of Organic Compounds to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases” and features contributions from a Brazilian team of synthetic chemists and pharmaceutical researchers that work in the field of synthesis of compounds that are potentially bioactive against the causative agents of NTDs.