“As President Obama’s second term begins to take shape and new faces assume new leadership roles, many in Washington are trying to gauge what will happen to global health,” Michelle Brooks, policy director at the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), writes in the organization’s “End the Neglect” blog. “In his State of the Union address, President Obama addressed his commitment to serving the global community” and “also discussed efforts to increase research and development funding by investing more in science and technology,” she notes. She briefly discusses the history of funding for NTDs, and concludes, “While not without some ups and downs, on the whole the administration continues to support the principles behind NTD control and elimination, namely its cost-effectiveness, its proven success, its role in poverty reduction and its contribution to global health diplomacy. And, we hope that as the Office of Global Health Diplomacy ramps up at the Department of State, that NTDs will remain on the president’s agenda” (3/1).