From Small Things: A world-wide public health initiative that had its roots in a study funded by a Canadian mining company that operates in Papua New Guinea, and that relies on drugs donated by (gasp!) a pharmaceutical company, had made tremendous strides against tropical disease:

During the past four years, 80 million people have been successfully treated for elephantiasis, one of the world's most disfiguring diseases.

How disfiguring is elephantiasis? This disfiguring. And, as the article points out, before it wreaks its cosmetic havoc, it leaves people weak and lethargic. In Papua New Guinea, they noticed academic improvement and better growth in children after treatment. There's so much that could be done to improve the world's health, if we weren't distracted by more glamorous diseases.