All posts by Caitlin Garlow

Shining Some LIGHT on Communities with NTDs

Asia, NTDs, ,

 

Join the Lights crew hard at work filming at a school. Photo by Join the Lights.

Join the Lights crew hard at work filming at a school. Photo by Join the Lights.

 

Storytelling is at the crux of our work at the END7 campaign and our mission to control and eliminate seven neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) by 2020.

We know that before people will take action to support any issue or cause, they have to be informed, inspired and connected to it.  That’s why we’re working to ensure that people are aware of more than just the facts about NTDs, and that they also have an opportunity to see and hear the real stories of families and communities who are struggling to fight and overcome these diseases.

We were thrilled to recently meet another group that shares our same vision of making positive change through storytelling – Join the Lights.  A creative media non-profit, Join the Lights is partnering with us to document and share the progress toward controlling NTDs in Myanmar.  The country’s latest nationwide mass drug administration campaign took place just last week, with support from END7.

This wasn’t Join the Lights’ first experience with NTDs.  Film crew members Davis, Tim and Kevin shared with us that they have already needed to seek treatment for parasitic diseases like intestinal worms and schistosomiasis over the past year while they’ve been traveling to remote parts of Latin America, Africa and South East Asia.

While they’ve had their own experiences battling NTDs, traveling with END7 and our partners allowed Join the Lights to witness what NTD control efforts are like on a large scale.  This year’s campaign involved extensive logistics to deliver medicines around the country and the training and mobilization of community health workers to deliver treatments to more than 20 million people – half of them children – in a period of just one week.

We’re thankful to have the added power of Join the Lights’ storytelling expertise behind us in our efforts to control and eliminate NTDs in Myanmar and around the world.

You can follow along with them on and  to see the progress on their work, and stay tuned for us to share the final product later this year!

NTD Treatment to Reach Millions in a Country Cloaked in Mystery

Asia, END7, NTDs, ,

 

In two weeks, a school-age child somewhere in the mountainous region of Thaton, Myanmar will hold out their hand and receive a tiny white pill. They’ll take a gulp from a cup of water, swallow it, and then move on with their day.

It’s a simple transaction that lasts five seconds, but this routine provision of medicine has big implications for the health and development of Myanmar.

Neglected tropical diseases like hookworm and elephantiasis currently pose a risk to more than 80 percent of the population of Myanmar.   Common among people living in poverty, these diseases often cause or worsen health conditions like anemia and malnutrition, which affect large portions of the population in Myanmar.  The country is one of the poorest among its neighbors in the South/Southeast Asia region.

That’s why last year we supported the training of hundreds of community health workers who helped to deliver donated medicine to millions of people in schools and homes around the country.

This September, we’re doing it again. With support from END7 as well as other development partners like the World Health Organization and pharmaceutical companies like GlaxoSmithKline, the government of Myanmar is leading a mass drug administration campaign that will reach an estimated 22 million people with treatment.

Despite many challenges, Myanmar is making substantial progress in controlling and eliminating NTDs.  Lack of available resources to implement the program is the primary challenge now, and .

Burmese Nobel Laurete and chairperson of the National League for Democracy in Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi once noted, “We will surely get to our destination if we join hands.”  We know that there’s a brighter future for children in Myanmar if they’re free from NTDs.

Will you ?  Or, will you  with your friends instead? 

Update on Successful NTD Program in Haiti

Haiti, Latin America and the Caribbean, ,

 

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If you’ve been following along with our blog, you know that we’ve recently applauded the positive news coming from Haiti about its efforts to treat and control NTDs, particularly lymphatic filariasis – a parasitic infection spread by mosquitoes that can cause severe and sometimes irreversible swelling of the limbs and genitals.

In two weeks, our partners at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CBM, IMA World Health, the University of Notre Dame and the Envision Project, managed by RTI International and funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, along with government officials from Haiti, will share their forward-thinking goals and perspectives on different strategies to control and eliminate lymphatic filariasis and soil-transmitted helminths (intestinal worms).

Those interested in NTD control and prevention efforts are invited to join the panel event and following reception. Please RSVP to Christina Powell at .

 

On the Road to Elimination: The Haiti Neglected Tropical Disease Program

Thursday, July 25, 2013

2:00-4:00 PM

Interaction Office

1400 16th St. NW #210

Washington, DC 20036

 

Agenda:

  • Welcome and Introductions, Opening Remarks: Dr. Pat Lammie, CDC
  • History of LF Program and Integration with STH, Scope of Problem: Dr. Oscar, Ministry of Public Health and Population
  • STH Efforts in Haiti and Benefits of Integration: TBD
  • Why School Based Interventions Work: Dr. St-Eloi, Ministry of Education
  • Urban MDA, the Case of PAP: Dr. Desir, University of Notre Dame
  • Beyond Prevention, Focus on the Patient: Amazan Bernadin, CBM
  • Use of the NTD Platform for Other PHC Benefits: Dr. Direny, IMA World Health

A Big Opportunity to Shine in Honduras

de-worming, END7, Global Health, hookworm, intestinal parasites, MDA, NTDs

 

Over the past few months, we’ve been working together with our partners in Honduras to promote and accelerate their leadership in preventing and treating neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).

In Honduras, where over two million preschool and school-age children are at-risk for infection with intestinal worms, a working group of three government ministries is mounting an impressive effort to put an end to these parasitic infections.

That includes reaching mothers like Cleotilde Acosta and her four children who were so sick with intestinal worms that they could barely eat or sleep.

In 2012, Honduras was the first country in Latin America and the Caribbean to launch a national integrated plan for NTD control and elimination. Since then, treatment for intestinal worms has increased by 55 percent, and families like Cleotilde’s have received the care they need.

Our partners in Honduras want to expand this successful initiative to help many more families and have asked END7 to help fill a funding gap for their school-based deworming program, Escuelas Saludables. Later this summer, the Honduras Ministry of Health and its partners are hoping to reach 1.4 million kids – ages 5 to 14 – in more than 20,000 schools.

The pills to treat against intestinal worms are already available, thanks to the terrific support and partnership of the World Food Programme and Operation Blessing.  But, it will take further efforts to ensure these pills reach those in need. In particular, teachers, other community members and school children who will receive health education materials and necessary training.

You can help us reach our goal  – every $1 helps. Click here to visit END7’s donation page.

The next campaign will take place over just five days in August.  More than 1 million kids in five days! It’s a big opportunity for Honduras to shine.

Read more about the last Honduras deworming campaign on PAHO/WHO’s website.

School children in Honduras

School children in Honduras, April 2013