Some of the world’s big challenges get a lot of attention. Climate change, war and immigration are constantly in the news and receive large funding from states and private philanthropies. Other significant problems like tuberculosis and nutrition receive less airtime and awareness, but count among major global priorities, with funding also allocated to them.
Even the aptly named "neglected tropical diseases" like rabies, river blindness and leprosy, which kill 200,000 people each year in poorer countries, have their own programs in the World Health Organization.
But there is a challenge that we hear little to nothing about that affects more than 1 billion people and could be addressed efficiently. We could reasonably call it the "neglected enormous disease."
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