ABUJA — The Nigerian authorities last week announced a sweeping military offensive against fighters with the militant group Boko Haram, a homegrown organization that claims ties to Al Qaeda and had recently seized parts of northeastern Nigeria.

This past weekend, the Sherpas for the group of 20 nations met for the third time in St. Petersburg to lay the ground work for the G20 Leaders’ Summit in September. Absent from any public disclosures of these meetings and the proposed fall agenda, so far, have been a newly revealed underbelly of disease and poverty in the G20 countries resulting from a group of chronic and debilitating infections known as the neglected tropical diseases or “NTDs.” NTDs are long-lasting and disabling parasitic and related infections that few people know about, such as leishmaniasis, elephantiasis, liver fluke, Chagas disease, and hookworm infection. They are the most common infections of poor people, rendering them too sick for work or productive activities and with the ability to reduce child intellect and future wage earning. The NTDs disproportionately affect girls and women.