Partnerships listed under this section are dedicated to combat tropical diseases, affecting the poorest populations of the world. Whether they are parasitic, viral, bacterial, chronic or curable, these diseases burden the populations of tropical and sub-tropical regions around the world, thus occurring in resource-poor settings, where people have very limited access to basic health care services and sanitation. There is often a geographical overlap, with several of the tropical diseases being endemic in the same region.

Although not always fatal, many of these diseases are severely debilitating. River blindness and trachoma, for instance, are the world's leading causes of preventable blindness, incapacitating families and communities in endemic areas. Another example is lymphatic filariasis (or elephantiasis), which is one of the leading causes of permanent disability worldwide. For some infectious diseases, like in the case of dengue fever, no specific treatment is currently available and vector-control strategies have proven insufficient to counter the pandemic.