Preventive chemotherapy as a strategy for elimination of neglected tropical parasitic diseases: endgame challenges
Open Access
- 5 August 2013
- journal article
- research article
- Published by The Royal Society in Philosophical Transactions Of The Royal Society B-Biological Sciences
- Vol. 368 (1623), 20120144
- https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0144
Abstract
Global efforts to address neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) were stimulated in January 2012 by the London declaration at which 22 partners, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, World Bank, World Health Organization (WHO) and major pharmaceutical companies committed to sustaining and expanding NTD programmes to eliminate or eradicate 11 NTDs by 2020 to achieve the goals outlined in the recently published WHO road map. Here, we present the current context of preventive chemotherapy for some NTDs, and discuss the problems faced by programmes as they consider the ‘endgame’, such as difficulties of access to populations in post-conflict settings, limited human and financial resources, and the need to expand access to clean water and improved sanitation for schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis. In the case of onchocerciasis and lymphatic filariasis, ivermectin treatment carries a significant risk owing to serious adverse effects in some patients co-infected with the tropical eye worm Loa loa filariasis. We discuss the challenges of managing complex partnerships, and maintain advocacy messages for the continued support for elimination of these preventable diseases.Keywords
This publication has 86 references indexed in Scilit:
- Study and implementation of urogenital schistosomiasis elimination in Zanzibar (Unguja and Pemba islands) using an integrated multidisciplinary approachBMC Public Health, 2012
- WILL MASS DRUG ADMINISTRATION ELIMINATE LYMPHATIC FILARIASIS? EVIDENCE FROM NORTHERN COASTAL TANZANIAJournal of Biosocial Science, 2012
- Lymphatic filariasis in the Democratic Republic of Congo; micro-stratification overlap mapping (MOM) as a prerequisite for control and surveillanceParasites & Vectors, 2011
- The impact of mass drug administration and long-lasting insecticidal net distribution on Wuchereria bancrofti infection in humans and mosquitoes: an observational study in northern UgandaParasites & Vectors, 2011
- Does mass drug administration for the integrated treatment of neglected tropical diseases really work? Assessing evidence for the control of schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminths in UgandaHealth Research Policy and Systems, 2011
- Pyrethroid resistance in southern African Anopheles funestus extends to Likoma Island in Lake MalawiParasites & Vectors, 2010
- Rapid mapping of schistosomiasis and other neglected tropical diseases in the context of integrated control programmes in AfricaParasitology, 2009
- Community-directed delivery of doxycycline for the treatment of onchocerciasis in areas of co-endemicity with loiasis in CameroonParasites & Vectors, 2009
- Current Status of Vaccines for SchistosomiasisClinical Microbiology Reviews, 2008
- The geographical distribution of lymphatic filariasis infection in MalawiFilaria Journal, 2007