Under the Big Tree

Extraordinary Stories from the Movement to End Neglected Tropical Diseases

By: Ellen Agler, Mojie Crigler, Bill Gates - Foreword

Narrated by: Coleen Marlo

Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) affect over one billion of the world's poorest people. More than 170,000 people die from NTDs each year, and many more suffer from blindness, disability, disfigurement, cognitive impairment, and stunted growth. Yet NTDs are treatable and preventable, and the annual cost of treatment is incredibly low.

In Under the Big Tree, public health leader Ellen Agler and award-winning writer Mojie Crigler tell the moving stories of those struggling with these diseases and the life-saving work that can be - and has been-done to combat these NTDs. They introduce listeners to people from all walks of life - from car washers in Lake Victoria and surgeons on motorbikes to under-resourced local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and Big Pharma scientists - as they chronicle what has been called the largest public health program in the world.

On the one hand, the solutions are simple: deliver medication to people who need it and leverage local systems to offer prevention, treatment, and education. On the other hand, solutions are complex: navigating local and national politics, delivering treatment to some of the most remote, vulnerable communities, and coordinating global and local donors, international NGOs, thousands of health workers, and millions of citizens.

©2019 Ellen Agler (P)2019 Tantor

Part text book, part heart warming stories

This book is about the challenge of addressing neglected tropical diseases around the world that affect over a billion people. It is, on the one hand, a text book on the effort to help those that suffer with these diseases and, on the other hand, a wonderful collection of stories about the patients and the people who are working so hard to alleviate suffering. It is heart warming - and educational. And, the narrator is as good as any I have heard in the 300 plus recorded books to which I have listened. I just wish I had books like this when I was studying for my Master of Public Health degree.