1. We announced the beginning of the Global Maternal Health Conference 2010 spearheaded by a partnership between The Maternal Health Task Force (MHTF) and the Public Health Foundation of India
2. We highlighted an upcoming Neglected Diseases Workshop in Boston
3. Alanna Shaikh gave us a lesson on the importance of sound governance structures for successful NTD programs
4. A new editorial in PLoS NTDs called for emerging market economies to join the US, UK, and Japan as partners in neglected tropical disease (NTD) control efforts
5. VOA News featured Dr. Peter Hotez on a segment about the US Global Health Initiative
6. Our Campus Challenge winner and former intern Manuel Claros shared his recent humanitarian missionto Honduras with us

For those of you in the United States, have a great Labor Day weekend!

1. The Global Network got an awesome opportunity to showcase a 15 second spot on the CBS Superscreen in New York City! Check out the video and join Alyssa Milano and Text “LIFE” to 30644 to End The Neglect!
2. Our wonderful communications/grassroots intern Linda shared her experience in  Honduras as a student volunteer working on construction projects for impovrished communities.
3. We got a little clinical when discussing Lymphatic Filariasis in our second “Worm of the Week” installment.
4. We got excited about the 30th anniversary of smallpox eradication!
5. Alanna Shaikh talked sandflies and giant sores, with a great article on  leishmaniasis, a horrific neglected tropical disease threatening 350 million men, women and children in 88 countries!
6. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation also had some great articles about smallpox this week, so we were excited to reprint them here for your reading pleasure!

We have some exciting news to share with you! The Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases was given the exciting opportunity to showcase a short video on the CBS Super Screen in bustling New York City’s Times Square. The video will run for 15 seconds of every hour, 18 hours a day for 60 days —receiving in excess of 1.5 million viewers daily!

Take a look at the video below (also embedded in the sidebar on the right) and join our Global Network Ambassador Alyssa Milano by texting “LIFE” to 30644 to learn more on how you can help End the Neglect.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZwS9DpTSXM

P.S.  If you happen to be in New York, wandering through Times Square (particularly on 42nd St. between 7th and 8th Ave)  and see our video on the CBS Super Screen , take a photo, send it in and we’ll post it!

By: Nathaniel Wolf, Sabin Vaccine Institute

August 20^th is World Mosquito Day.  In 1897, Sir Ronald Ross looked at a mosquito under a microscope and saw that it looked really cool up close.  He declared August 20^th World Mosquito Day and said we should be nice to mosquitoes, if only one day a year. 

Not really.  What Dr. Ross discovered was the link between mosquitoes and transmission of malaria.  He declared World Mosquito Day so that people would become educated about the life cycle of malaria, and in 1902 he won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for it.   In spite of this discovery, today the disease continues to be a threat to approximately 2.85 billion people, afflicting 250 million people around the world and causing an estimated 1 million deaths annually.   

Dr. Ross’ discovery was made possible by another discovery some 20 years prior.  In China, Sir Patrick Manson discovered that the mosquito is a vector for lymphatic filiariasis (LF), a debilitating parasitic disease that currently afflicts about 120 million people around the world.   LF causes a range of symptoms including elephantiasis, hydrocele and extreme swelling of the scrotum.  The economic and social effects of this disease are enormous.  If you’ve ever read James Michener’s Tales of the South Pacific, wherein he talks about a man who, in order to walk, had to push before him a “rude wheelbarrow” in which “rested his scrotum, a monstrous growth that. . .weighed more than 70 pounds and tied him a prisoner to his barrow,” you probably thought Michener was taking poetic license.  He wasn’t.

The 2.85 billion at risk for malaria are also those most at risk from neglected tropical diseases.   As Alanna Shaikh pointed out in her entry on this blog yesterday, malaria “shares territory, climate, and even modes of transmission with NTDs.”  The clinical outcome of childhood malaria and malaria in pregnant women is dramatically higher when combined with one or more NTD, and there is evidence that even susceptibility to malaria is increased by NTDs.

Furthermore, according to an article published in 2008 in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases by Drs. Peter Hotez and David Molyneux, the anemia caused by malaria is increased dramatically when combined with an NTD such as hookworm disease, of which there are almost 200 million cases in Africa alone.  More than anything else, this anemia is what makes malaria and NTDs “diseases of poverty”—adults can’t work when they are very sick, and children can’t learn. 

There is good news out there.  In addition to the positive things mentioned by Ms. Shaikh, UK’s Department of International Development (DFID) states that 11 African countries are “approaching elimination” and Rwanda and Ethopia have seen a 50% decrease in malaria cases.  

The Malaria Vaccine Initiative, a program of PATH, is conducting late-stage clinical trials on a vaccine against malaria.  Also, Sabin Vaccine Institute’s Vaccine Development Program, in partnership with Malaria Vaccine Initiative and Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health, is working on the development of a very exciting “transmission-blocking” vaccine (yes, I said “exciting,” “vaccine,” and “development” all in the same sentence).  In other words, if a mosquito “bites” a person who has been inoculated with this vaccine, it may render that mosquito unable to infect any other person with the disease.    So maybe some year in the future on August 20^th we can all roll up our sleeves and stick out our arms and be nice to mosquitoes, if just for one day.

 Nathaniel Wolf is an Information Officer for the Sabin Vaccine Institute. He is a fan of the Washington Nationals and is currently working on his first screenplay.

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.

However, a recent study conducted in  Mali by the Antwerp Institute of Tropical Medicine and published in the journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases found that single disease campaigns while beneficial, weakened the overall health care system and interfered with routine healthcare delivery and provision systems.

The Antwerp team examined 16 healthcare centers in Mali that were involved in a large-scale integrated treatment campaign funded by USAID and a number of pharmaceutical companies in order to tackle lymphatic filariasis, river blindness, schistosomiasis, soil-transmitted helminthiasis and trachoma.

They found that of the 16 centers, only two were sufficiently staffed and supported and were able to conduct normal duties during the drug distribution campaign. The other 14 centers faced enormous operational problems. People were getting treated for specific NTDs, but healthcare for their other ailments were not being tended to.

According to the authors, “Several informants also criticized the high priority given to targeted diseases, while more common health problems received little attention; they worried about the campaign mobilising energy and diverting staff’s attention from routine care delivery.”

The authors also found that while training and education helped staff improve specific drug delivery, it did address other disease control strategies, such as sanitation and curative care.

Overall, the authors contend that mass drug administration for NTDs is still crucial and a positive global health initiative, however they stress that health system strengthening must be improved.

“Health system strengthening should rely on country-specific development plans aligned with national policy, and requires a comprehensive approach across diseases and health problems and coordination among GHIs…..Progress towards effective and inclusive health systems will not result from the sum of selective GHI interventions.”

The treatment of NTDs in countries that suffer from a high disease burden is a necessity, there is no argument here.  However we cannot overlook how global health initiatives impact and disrupt existing health systems.

1.  Launching International Year of Youth, UN urges dialogue, respect across generations, UN News Center
2. Massive scale-up needed in Pakistan flood relief operation, says UN, UN News Center
3. Map reveals global threat from the ‘other malaria’, Rhiannon Smith, SciDev.net
4. India Asks, Should Food Be a Right for the Poor? Jim Yardley, New York Times

There is a specific public health section and if you look closely within the Matrix you will see that the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases is listed!

Here is a little more information about the Global Governance Monitor:

“The Global Governance Monitor is a tool that shows how the international community is doing in addressing the most daunting threats that it faces. For each issue area, the monitor provides:

• a cinematic overview of the challenge, which explains why international cooperation is needed;
• an interactive timeline that traces the world’s efforts to craft collective responses to the challenge;
• an issue brief that evaluates the overall performance of the regime and suggests potential reforms to improve international cooperation;
• a matrix that catalogs relevant international treaties, organizations, and initiatives;
• an interactive map that details critical countries and groups; and
• a resource guide for further information on the topic.”

The Living Proof Project was initially concieved to demonstrate successes in global health interventions worldwide. By sharing captivating stories of hope through a wide range of multimedia platforms, “Living Proof”emphasized that targeted interventions do save and improve lives afflicted by poverty and disease.

According to the official press announcement:

“ONE will expand The Living Proof Project to reach new audiences in more countries around an expanded set of development issues, including agriculture and access to clean water. ONE will also broaden The Living Proof Project beyond the U.S. to highlight the impact of European investments. The launch of this effort will include an event in London this fall featuring Bill and Melinda Gates. ONE will also collaborate closely with organizations working on the ground in developing countries to get the word out about the work they are doing to save lives and create opportunity.

With 2 million members globally and a record of creating cutting-edge advocacy campaigns, ONE will lead the next evolution of The Living Proof Project. ONE and its partners will incorporate The Living Proof Project content into their ongoing efforts to inspire and challenge people around the world to help secure long term, sustainable support from G8 and G20 nations for international development.”

We are excited by this news and look forward to seeing the dynamic ways that ONE will shape “Living Proof!” We also look forward to sharing and highlighting stories of optimism and progress here on End The Neglect!

We have some very exciting news to share with our readers! We are pleased to announce that Dr. Neeraj Mistry has accepted the opportunity of serving as the Managing Director of the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases. Dr. Mistry will focus his talents on advocacy and resource mobilization efforts, creatively bringing likeminded groups and individuals together for the common purpose of controlling and eliminating neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).

A South African national and public health physician, Dr. Mistry is experienced in global health policy and programming having worked in both developing and developed countries, the public and private sectors in clinical practice, health policy and social development. In the past year, he provided consulting services to international organizations including WHO, DFID and The Global Fund, prior to which he was a senior vice president in APCO Worldwide’s Washington DC office.

From 2001 to 2008, Dr. Mistry worked at the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria (GBC) as a founding employee and vice president of knowledge, evaluation and performance where he led technical assistance to companies. In addition to technical assistance, Dr. Mistry provided substantive and strategic input to GBC’s regional offices and departments. He developed the Business AIDS Methodology (BAM™) and Best Practice AIDS Standard (BPAS™) and conceptualized and led GBC’s work on co-investment and public/private partnerships with PEPFAR and The Global Fund, where he also supports the technical review panel. Following the completion of his medical training at the University of the Witwatersrand Medical School in Johannesburg, South Africa, Dr. Mistry focused on HIV/AIDS, occupational health, family practice and sexual and reproductive health. Dr. Mistry also worked at the National Health Service (NHS) in London and in Merck & Co. Inc.’s public affairs for Europe, Middle East and Africa.

He also holds a Master’s degree in health policy and economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is currently reading for a Masters in Liberal Arts at Johns Hopkins.

We are looking forward to working with Dr. Mistry, and excited to see how his broad experience and background will strengthen the Global Network. Please join us in welcoming Dr. Mistry as he brings his energy and skills to the task of carrying out the Global Network’s important mission.

According to the United Nations Population Fund Website:

“This year World Population Day highlights the importance of data for development. The focus is on the 2010 round of the population and housing census, data analysis for development and UNFPA’s lead role in population and development.

Reliable data makes a difference, and the key is to collect, analyze and disseminate data in a way that drives good decision making. The numbers that emerge from data collection can illuminate important trends. What striking situation does research reveal in your country? What do the numbers tell you about progress toward meeting the MDGs? Are certain groups getting left behind?”

We encourage you to watch this great video by USAID on why population data matters!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_pk7mtZoO8