Billions of dollars, decades of progress spent eliminating devastating diseases may be lost with undoing of USAID

The parasites that cause river blindness and elephantitis have been afflicting people for centuries. Alexis Huguet/AFP via Getty Images

In Greek mythology, King Sisyphus was condemned by the god Zeus to spend eternity rolling a boulder up a hill only to have it roll back down, having to start anew every day.

His story captured our attention as researchers studying neglected tropical diseases – a collection of conditions that primarily affect poor people in low-income countries. These diseases do not kill people at the rates of more well-known infections, such as HIV, malaria and tuberculosis, but cause significant pain and disability. As chronic infections that can cause disfigurement, they are also stigmatizing and economically devastating.