Searching for a change: The need for increased support for public health and research on fungal diseases

According to the Global Fund for Fungal Infections (GAFFI), several key antifungals also are not available or not even registered in multiple regions where fungal diseases are most lethal [2]. Investment/death ratios for each disease corresponded to approximate values of 2,458 (meningococcal meningitis), 1,315 (malaria), 334 (tuberculosis), 276 (diarrheal diseases), and 31 (cryptococcal meningitis). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0006479.g001 Funding for fungal diseases The current scenario is incompatible with an optimistic perspective, as illustrated by the most recent edition of the Global Funding of Innovation for Neglected Diseases (G-Finder) Report [18]. According to statistics obtained from WHO’s public databases, cryptococcal meningitis is the fourth most deadly infectious disease (excluding HIV), after tuberculosis (approximately 1,700,000 deaths [19]), diarrheal diseases (approximately 525,000 deaths [20]), and malaria (approximately 438,000 deaths [21]). Analysis of publication records and reported funding in the fields of tuberculosis, malaria, cryptococcosis, paracoccidioidomycosis, mycetoma, sporotrichosis, and chromoblastomycosisa. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0006479.t001 We further examined the authors' statements of financial support for major international agencies with a history of support of research into neglected diseases [23], such as the National Institutes of Health, USA, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Wellcome Trust, the Medical Research Council, the European Commission, and the European Research Council.