End the Neglect

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Archive for the ‘Global Development’ category

Public Health Mission in Honduras

August 23rd, 2010

By: Linda Diep

The Velasquez-Medina family

From left to right: Gregorio, Hector, Catherin (front), Carla, Anastasia

Meet the Velasquez-Medina family: Gregorio Velasquez and Anastasia Medina live in a small two-room home with their two adult children, Carla and Oscar, and their two small grandchildren, Hector and Catherin, in rural Joyas del Carballo, Honduras.

The Velasquez-Medinas is one of the poorest families in their small community, living on $5 a day, lacking basic necessities such as clean water, and going without food on most days. There are many families living in these impoverished conditions throughout Honduras and the world; fortunately, there are organizations such as Global Brigades who work in developing countries and serve families just like the Velasquez-Medina family. Global Brigades is a 501c3 nonprofit organization working to mobilize student volunteers to help provide individuals in Honduras and Panama with a better quality of life through economic, public health, medical, and infrastructure assistance. This summer, I and Campus Challenge winner Manuel Claros, were fortunate enough to participate in a Public Health Brigade – a week-long trip where student volunteers work to improve living conditions for an assigned family – to Joyas del Carballo, Honduras. We worked on four construction projects in efforts to help provide the Velasquez-Medina family with a better quality of life.

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Posted in Campus Challenge, Global Development, Global Health, Latin America and the Caribbean, NTDs, Public Health, hookworm, poverty

Tags: albendozole Children deworming Global Brigades Global Health Honduras hookworm Latin America and the Caribbean NTDs tapeworm

NTDs: Neglected Tropical Disasters

August 19th, 2010

By: Alanna Shaikh

More good news from me this week. New research shows that more kids in Africa are sleeping under bednets to protect them from mosquito-borne diseases like malaria and dengue. Here’s the big deal: in 1999, only 1.5% of children at risk slept under a net. By 2008 26.6% of children slept under a net. In Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Sao Tome, more than 80% of all children slept under a net. Considering that malaria caused 900,000 deaths in 2006, these kinds of advances really matter.

To make things even more interesting, the countries who did the best job of distributing bed nets and getting people to use them were also the countries that received the most aid for their malaria programs. That’s not exactly 100% proof that health aid works, but it comes awfully close.

Malaria has a lot in common with the NTDs. After all, it’s a tropical disease, too. It’s just not neglected. It shares territory, climate, and even modes of transmission with various NTDs. And, like malaria, we know how to prevent and cure NTDs. What worked for malaria – effective, targeted aid in quantities big enough to have an impact – will work for neglected tropical diseases, too. This research is a reminder and an inspiration. We really can defeat these diseases, bit by bit.

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Posted in Africa, Global Development, Global Health, NTDs, Public Health, Water and Sanitation, malaria

Tags: Africa bednets Global Health malaria NTDs Pakistan floods water Water and Sanitation

Are Certain Global Health Initiatives Disrupting Basic Medical Care In Poor Countries?

August 19th, 2010

Women outside clinic in Gashora, Rwanda. Photo: Lindsay Wheeler

It’s hard to argue against the fact that there are many global health interventions that can go a long way toward the control and elimination of many neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). Global health initiatives have become an intrinsic part of international aid policy.

At a low financial cost, single disease campaigns in various countries like Rwanda, Burundi, Mali and Sierra Leone for instance, have seen success in deworming children and treating patients for schistosomiasis, onchocerciasis, and trachoma.

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Posted in Africa, Global Development, Global Health, NTDs, Water and Sanitation, hookworm, poverty

Tags: advocacy Africa deworming education Global Health Global Health Initiative Lymphatic Filariasis onchocerciasis Schistosomiasis trachoma USAID Water and Sanitation

Global NGO Deworming Inventory Report Available!

August 18th, 2010

Highlighted in a previous post, the Global NGO Deworming Inventory collects treatment data from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) around the world that provide anthelminthic drugs to treat soil-transmitted helminthiasis (STH), schistosomiasis, and/or lymphatic filariasis (LF). This Inventory complements the WHO Preventive Chemotherapy (PCT) databank which collects treatment data from governmental health agencies. Below is information on the first report on the Inventory:

The first report of the Global NGO Deworming Inventory is now available on the Inventory website. The report provides a list of deworming programs operating in various countries, and is intended to serve as a resource in facilitating collaboration among deworming programs working in the same country. The report will continue to be updated as new data are submitted to the Inventory. Please continue to check the Inventory website for updates.

A summary report of treatment data is currently being compiled and validated. Treatment data will be aggregated at the national level to provide an overview of the scope of deworming activities within countries. An announcement will be sent once this report is available.

The Inventory team thanks all the organizations that have participated to date. Your input has contributed greatly to building the Inventory and will help establish a stronger community among deworming programs.

Please contact info@deworminginventory.org for any concerns or clarification on the data presented. Your suggestions or any questions you may have are also welcome.

~ The Global NGO Deworming Inventory team.
www.deworminginventory.org

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Posted in Global Development, Global Health, NTDs

Tags: Children deworming Global Health Global NGO Deworming Inventory Report NTDs

Celebrating World Humanitarian Day

August 18th, 2010

Today we are celebrating World Humanitarian Day on End the Neglect! More than ever, the humanitarian community has been able to respond quickly to crises throughout the world, and provide relief in a timely fashion. Much of this success can be attributed to the selfless hard work and dedication from countless numbers of volunteers and aid workers. Today we recognize each and every one of these individuals and their tireless work.

In addition to this recognition, World Humanitarian Day is also a reminder that such tireless work is not nearly complete. The recent floods in Pakistan has affected millions of Pakistanis, causing displacement of individuals and an environment conducive to the spread of water-borne diseases. Aid remains to be unstable as food, clean water, and other relief supplies have been slow to reach victims. In the long-term, damages from the flooding pose to be a great threat to the country’s economy, and food and political security. It is at this point in time when humanitarian work is needed most.

In the world of NTDs, the high prevalence of schistosomiasis amongst African countries is a humanitarian crisis within the continent. As mentioned in a previous post, Africa is home to many who suffer from schistosomiasis, a disease affecting children, adolescents, and young adults. Symptoms include anemia, inflammation, and disability. Mass distribution of the drug Praziquantel is the only commercially available treatment for the disease, however, provision of the drug to Africa has been minimal. Authors Peter Hotez, Dirk Engels, Alan Fenwick and Lorenzo Savioli published an editorial in the August 13 edition of The Lancet calling for more Praziquantel, a drug that costs a few cents per pill, to reduce the schistosomiasis burden in a continent where individuals are most affected.

Observe World Humanitarian Day today! Visit the Global Network website and find out how you can help relieve the crisis of NTDs!

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Posted in Africa, Global Development, Global Health, NTDs

Tags: advocacy Africa Children Global Health Hotez NTDs Pakistan floods sanitation Schistosomiasis THe Lancet Water and Sanitation water-borne diseases world humanitarian day

Medicines for Malaria Venture Contributes to Pool for Open Innovation Against NTDs

August 17th, 2010

The Pool for Open Innovation against Neglected Tropical Diseases (the Pool) is a consortium whose members make information and knowledge available to the public for the sole purpose of developing patents, tools, and other intellectual property to combat neglected tropical diseases. The Pool was established in February 2009 by GlaxoSmithKline and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, and has since been joined by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The Pool is administered by BIO Ventures for Global Health (BVGH).

Today, Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) has become a contributor to the Pool, acting as the first product development partnership (PDP) in the Pool’s history. Read more about the partnership and what it means in the fight against neglected tropical diseases.

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Posted in Global Development, Global Health, NTDs

Tags: Alnylam Pharmaceuticals BIO Ventures for Global Health GlaxoSmithKline Global Health Medicines for Malaria Venture NTDs Pool for Open Innovation against Neglected Tropical Diseases

New Global Atlas will Transform Deworming Programmes

August 16th, 2010

As mentioned last Friday, the Global Atlas of Helminth Infections is a brand new tool that will track worm infections all throughout Africa. Below is the press release announcing its launch:

Partnership for Child Development

MAPPING THIS WORMY WORLD

New global atlas will transform deworming programmes

Maps showing the distribution and prevalence of worm infections in every African country will be launched today (17 August). These maps, called This Wormy World www.thiswormyworld.org, are the first of a series of Global Atlas of Helminth Infections which provide a unique, open-access, free information resource vital for planning and implementing deworming programmes.

It is estimated that more than 400 million children worldwide are infected with worms (helminths), 90 million in Africa alone. Worms damage children’s health, nutrition and educational achievement. Infections are most prevalent in poor communities where there is inadequate sanitation. The most common worm infections are soil-transmitted helminths (roundworm, whipworm and hookworm) and schistosomiasis.

This Wormy World identifies areas in a country that most urgently require mass treatment to control infection and predicts the risk of infection in areas where data is lacking. The Global Atlas of Helminth Infections has been produced by an international collaboration lead by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the Partnership for Child Development at Imperial College London. For a decade, the group has been gathering survey data to describe the distribution and prevalence of worm infection.

Announcing This Wormy World at the 12^th International Congress of Parasitology in Melbourne, Australia, founder of the project, Dr Simon Brooker from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK and KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kenya, said, “Worm control is like a journey. The extent and location of the problem need to be mapped out in order to get treatment to where it is needed most. Until recently, much worm control has been a journey without reliable maps.”

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Posted in Africa, Global Development, Global Health, NTDs, Public Health

Tags: Africa Global Atlas of Helminth Infections Global Health news NTDs

End the Neglect Blog Round Up 8/13/2010

August 13th, 2010

Happy Friday readers!

Here’s our weekly roundup:

On Monday we highlighted a story about an NTD program that provides meals to school children before giving them treatment for schistosomiasis.
On Tuesday, a great organization LEPRA Health In Action guest blogged about integrated programs between Leprosy and Lymphatic Filariasis
On Wednesday, our frequently contributing writer and global health guru Alanna Shaikh gave us some good news about Buruli Ulcer
On Thursday we told you about a new feature on the Council on Foreign Relations website called The Global Governance Monitor
And Today, Friday we had two great items for you: 1) A New Global Helminth Atlas that will be a great NTD advocacy tool 2) The latest edition of The Lancet included an article about Africa’s need for improved access to treatment for schistosomiasis.

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Posted in Africa, Global Development, Global Health, NTDs, Politics, Weekly Roundup, policy, reading list

Tags: advocacy Africa Children deworming education Global Health Hotez Lymphatic Filariasis media news NTDs sanitation Schistosomiasis

Latest Lancet Article Reveals: “Africa is Desperate for Praziquantel”

August 13th, 2010

Urine samples from school-aged children from Nérékoro in Ségou region of Mali. Three samples on right show visible haematuria, which indicates infection with S haematobium. Three samples on left are not haematuric at visual inspection but could still contain abnormal number of red blood cells. Urine cloudiness (third sample from left) is early sign of abnormality. Photo Credit: The Lancet

In an editorial in the August 13 edition of The Lancet, authors representing the Sabin Vaccine Institute, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Imperial College of London call for increased supplies of praziquantel for the African continent. Praziquantel is the only commercially available treatment for human schistosomiasis, a devastating neglected tropical disease (NTD) affects an estimated 200-600 million people worldwide, with the vast majority of cases occurring in Africa, and causes chronic anemia and inflammation associated with severe disability among children, adolescents and young adults. Schistosomiasis produces a disease burden that could exceed that of malaria.

NTDs are devastating, disabling and debilitating parasitic and bacterial infections that adversely affect the poorest 1.4 billion people worldwide living on $1.25 a day. Such conditions promote poverty because of their impact on child growth and development, pregnancy outcome, and worker productivity, all of which adversely impact the earning capacity of already impoverished individuals and communities.

Authors Dr. Peter Hotez (Sabin Vaccine Institute), Dr. Lorenzo Savioli (WHO), Dr. Dirk Engels (WHO) and Dr. Alan Fenwick (Imperial), emphasize that because an estimated one billion tablets are needed to treat 400 million people annually or every other year, at least 10-20 times the currently donated praziquantel is necessary to increase treatment for schistosomiasis in Africa.

The authors conclude by stating that, “… praziquantel is urgently needed for sub-Saharan Africa now, and the current failure of the global community to provide access to this essential medicine is impeding sustainable development in Africa. The shortages of praziquantel should be treated as an African humanitarian crisis.”

Read the full article here

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Posted in Africa, Global Development, Global Health, NTDs, Politics, Public Health, Uncategorized, policy, poverty

Tags: advocacy Africa Children Global Health media news policy research Sabin Vaccine Institute sanitation Schistosomiasis Water and Sanitation WHO

Reading List 8/12/10

August 12th, 2010

Hello readers! The news is buzzing with everything from today being UN International Youth Day to the on-going humanitarian crisis in Pakistan because of the massive floods. We’re also reading about the global threat from the “other malaria,” and whether the ‘right to food’ should become a legal right in India.