For close to two decades, the U.S. Agency for International Development has partnered with countries around the world to combat neglected tropical diseases, or NTDs. The term refers to a group of diseases that affect more than a billion people, causing severe pain, disfigurement, disability and in some cases death.

They're referred to as "neglected" because they disproportionately affect populations living in extreme poverty and thus don't attract investment from the pharmaceutical industry.

Now, as part of sweeping cuts to foreign aid that began on Inauguration Day, the Trump administration has frozen $114.5 million appropriated by Congress for the NTD Program's 2025 budget. If that funding isn't restored, advocates say, nearly a billion dollars' worth of medicines donated by private

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