About us

TDR, the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases, is a global programme of scientific collaboration that helps facilitate, support and influence efforts to combat diseases of poverty. It is hosted at the World Health Organization (WHO), and is sponsored by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Bank and WHO.

Our vision

“The power of research and innovation will improve the health and well-being of those burdened by infectious diseases of poverty.”

Our Mission

“To foster an effective global research effort on infectious diseases of poverty and promote the translation of innovation to health impact in disease endemic countries.”

Key documents

Key publications

News from TDR Director, John Reeder

We have a new, 6-year strategy that begins next year. I’d like to explain what will be different and what approaches we will take that should result in more sustainable and equitable solutions.

TDR Global, the new platform for research networking, is now live.

Looking for an expert who has worked on some aspect of infectious diseases of poverty? Need a multi-disciplinary team? Would you like some additional exposure for your work?

Partnerships to address critical health issues

Partnership is key to TDR’s success. We could only accomplish what has been done by working with others. This has been a main tenent throughout our history, and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals agreed by United Nations members even have a goal focused on this: Goal 17: Revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development.

About TDR: making a difference

TDR, the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases, is a global programme of scientific collaboration that helps facilitate, support and influence efforts to combat diseases of poverty. TDR is hosted at the World Health Organization (WHO), and is sponsored by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Bank and WHO.

Resources about TDR

TDR celebrates 40 years of commitments

May 2014
Streaming mp4 00:05:11

Sign up

Disease outbreak news

TDR news

Scientist icon

Scientist news

Follow us on