Introduction: North-South inequalities in the face of infectious diseases

The aim of this lecture was largely to introduce the seminars by Dominique Kérouédan and Jean-François Delfraissy. Nevertheless, it was an opportunity to deal in detail with the concept of neglected tropical diseases, their definition, their prevalence, and their individual and collective cost. The long-term consequences of these often chronic parasitic or bacterial infections can be highly deleterious for patients: blindness in trachoma and onchocerciasis, severe skin damage in Buruli ulcer or leprosy, kidney failure, cirrhosis and liver cancer in bilharzia. The immense impact of helminthiasis, particularly on the paediatric population, is poorly understood. Therapeutic approaches, especially "preventive chemotherapy", have proved their worth, administered in the context of public-private partnerships. Onchocerciasis has already been eradicated from certain regions of Africa.