Significant effort and progress has occurred over the last several years in the development of vaccines against three main tropical parasitic diseases (malaria, leishmaniases and schistosomiasis). However, an effective vaccine is not yet available. The difficulties in developing a vaccine against parasitic disease are complicated not only by the necessity to identify (and produce) appropriate, protective antigens but also a lack of complete understanding of the types of immune responses needed for protection. Despite these hurdles, several candidate vaccines are under development for each disease; at least one promising vaccine candidate exists that is in late stage clinical testing.