Quantitative analysis and mathematical models are useful tools in informing strategies to control or eliminate
disease. Currently, there is an urgent need to develop these tools to inform policy to achieve the 2020 goals for
neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). In this paper we give an overview of a collection of novel model-based analyses
which aim to address key questions on the dynamics of transmission and control of nine NTDs: Chagas disease,
visceral leishmaniasis, human African trypanosomiasis, leprosy, soil-transmitted helminths, schistosomiasis, lymphatic
filariasis, onchocerciasis and trachoma. Several common themes resonate throughout these analyses, including: the
importance of epidemiological setting on the success of interventions; targeting groups who are at highest risk of
infection or re-infection; and reaching populations who are not accessing interventions and may act as a reservoir
for infection,. The results also highlight the challenge of maintaining elimination ‘as a public health problem’ when
true elimination is not reached. The models elucidate the factors that may be contributing most to persistence of
disease and discuss the requirements for eventually achieving true elimination, if that is possible. Overall this
collection presents new analyses to inform current control initiatives. These papers form a base from which further
development of the models and more rigorous validation against a variety of datasets can help to give more
detailed advice. At the moment, the models’ predictions are being considered as the world prepares for a final
push towards control or elimination of neglected tropical diseases by 2020.