Blue Marble Health and the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013

The concept of blue marble health emerged as a novel framework for global health in 2013 [1, 2]. Succinctly put, today most or at least one-half of the world’s neglected diseases occur among the poor living in wealthy countries, especially in the group of 20 (G20) nations and Nigeria [1–4]. Based on data mostly compiled and released by the WHO (and other published sources), approximately one-half of the major helminth infections occur among the G20 countries and Nigeria, as well as most of the dengue, leishmaniasis, leprosy, Chagas disease, and possibly other neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) [1–3]. In addition, most (57%) of the tuberculosis (TB) cases are found in these countries, as are almost one-half of the malaria (45%) and HIV/AIDS (44%) cases [4].