Neglected tropical diseases, such as Chagas disease, dengue or leishmaniasis, affect more than 1.5 billion people in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Simon Croft, Professor of Parasitology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, offered at the University of Navarra some figures on the incidence of these pathologies and stated that "to combat them we must develop partnership networks between the academic and scientific world, industry and public and private institutions committed to research and innovation in new treatments".

According to this expert, "the core topic is the exchange of knowledge that allows the reduction of the costs of development of these treatments and attracts the interest of the pharmaceutical industry". This was pointed out at a lecture organized by the Master's Degree in research, development and Drug Innovation of the School Pharmacy.

In this line, Professor Simon Croft pointed out that it is also "necessary promote partnerships between health officials and governments of affected countries to adopt appropriate prevention and control measures that achieve cost-effective benefits in controlling morbidity". According to the latest World Health Organization report , an investment of 0.1% of the current domestic health expense of the involved low- and middle-income countries over the period 2015-2030 could combat these diseases and improve the health and well-being of those affected.

During his stay at the University of Navarra, Prof. Croft also gave the students at Degree another session on the challenges to eliminate the pathogens that cause these diseases. At the same time, he was able to learn about the research being carried out at high school of Tropical Health.

Professor Croft has worked for over thirty years on finding and development vaccines, both in academia and industry. He has also collaborated on projects sponsored by WHO, the European Union, the Medical Research Council (MRC), Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) and the Gates Foundation. From 2004 to 2007 he was the first Director of research and development of the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi) in Geneva.