M. F. Chappuis from Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) introduced this session dedicated to the improvement of access to drugs and diagnosis. Four key speakers gave an overall picture of access to the diagnosis of neglected diseases: M. J. Alvar from the Neglected Diseases department of the World Health Organization (WHO); M. Bilenge from the National Human African Tripanosomiasis (HAT) programme, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Brasavil; Ms. Cayreyre from the private medical company Sanofi-Aventis and M. Pecoul from the NGO Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDI). They defined what the tropical diseases and problems issues are such as lack of drugs, diagnosis and needs for sustaining progress.