The elimination of Human African Trypanosomiasis, also known as African sleeping sickness, is in sight! In the February 2011 issue of PLoS Neglected Tropical Disease Journal, contributing editor Serap Aksoy discusses the triumphs behind the control of African Sleeping Sickness.  He attributes much of this success to the “ambitious campaign” led by World Health Organization (WHO) and drug donations by Sanofi-Aventis and Bayer.

In this issue of PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Pere P. Simarro and colleagues from WHO report that the number of new cases diagnosed with HAT in 2009 has dropped below 10,000 for the first time in 50 years, signaling a possible end to the latest epidemic cycle as a major public health problem. This decline was achieved through an ambitious campaign led by WHO, and many nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and thanks to a public–private partnership with Sanofi-Aventis and Bayer to donate and distribute the necessary drugs to WHO for use in affected countries.

The role of government support is crucial in the suppression of global and public health threats; Aksoy recognizes that the support of African heads of state was an essential contribution to the recent reduction of infections.

Also crucial in HAT control was the recognition of the problem by African heads of state and governments during the African Union Summit in Lomé in 2000 where the Pan African Tsetse and Trypanosomiasis Eradication Campaign (PATTEC) was initiated with the objective to render Africa a tsetse- and trypanosomiasis-free continent [5].

As we move forward with control and reduction of this and many other Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), it is important to recognize that often, it is when one is close to the finish line that it becomes hardest to finish.   So, while the reduction in the number of cases reported for sleeping sickness is a huge victory in global health and NTD control, there is still much work to be done towards elimination.

African Sleeping Sickness is a parasitic diseases transmitted by the blood-sucking tsetse fly. Tsetse flies are unique to Sub-Saharan Africa and have the greatest impact in rural regions that rely heavily on farming, hunting, and fishing.

Read the full article here!