All posts by Dr. Mirta Roses Periago

Paraguay is Doubling the Bet with a Deworming Campaign to Treat and Prevent NTDs among School Children

Latin America and the Caribbean, PAHO,

 

Credit: Pan American Health Organization

Credit: Pan American Health Organization

Last week, I was very excited to see that Paraguay’s Ministries of Health and Education, in collaboration with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) aimed to treat more than 1.4 million school children, as well as homeless and indigenous populations, for intestinal worms during a four-day deworming campaign.  This year’s campaign marks a significant scale-up from last year’s effort which reached 700,000 school children in comparison.

In order to double the outreach from previous campaigns, they spread the word in a number of ways, including through social media. Thanks to visual informational materials, and even the creation of a friendly mascot, children across the country were motivated to take deworming medicine.

Intestinal worm infections disproportionately affect the poor in Paraguay. More than 50 percent of Paraguayan households lack access to clean water and sanitation, exacerbating the spread of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) like intestinal worms.

These infections rob children of nutrients and energy and can lead to anemia and malnutrition, preventing them from going to school and undermining their potential to learn and succeed. But thanks to Paraguay’s expanded efforts to treat and control intestinal worms, more and more children will benefit from improved health. As girls grow up free of worms, well-nourished and better educated, they will also become better prepared for a healthy pregnancy and a successful delivery of healthy babies.

Last week’s campaign, launched in the City of San Lorenzo on August 4th, promoted the importance of proper hygiene and sanitation in addition to distributing deworming medicine. Regular hand washing, increased use of toilets and latrines and washing fruits and vegetables are essential to help prevent the spread and reinfection of intestinal worms.

The government of Paraguay, PAHO, municipal governments, school teachers, and parents all played a role during the campaign and helped promote hygiene practices by sharing materials and conducting trainings. To ensure that rural populations also received medicines and educational materials, national health teams worked closely with local health departments as well. We congratulate the leadership of the Ministries of Health and Education for this innovative and collaborative work.

Paraguay’s 2014 deworming campaign demonstrates the country’s commitment to controlling and eliminating NTDs. However, Paraguay can do more to lessen the unnecessary suffering caused by NTDs.

Efforts need to be made to map the prevalence of intestinal parasites, track and report existing deworming efforts, and focus on establishing programmatic collaborations with neighboring countries Bolivia and Argentina to implement NTD efforts in the cross-national Chaco Region where many communities of indigenous people are living in extremely poor conditions. With a strong commitment to maintain these activities, Paraguay’s children will benefit from a healthier and more prosperous country.

Why NTDs Matter to Maternal, Newborn and Child Health

Maternal Health

 

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By Dr. Mirta Roses Periago, NTD Special Envoy

Next week, from May 28th to 30th, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper will host a summit on maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) in Toronto, Canada. Titled “Saving Every Woman, Every Child: Within Arm’s Reach,” the summit will bring global leaders and experts together to ensure that MNCH remains an international priority – not only for Canada, but for all countries.

This summit is extremely timely due to the close 2015 deadline of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and with the global community refining the priority themes to include into the post-2015 development agenda. As Canada prepares to launch its renewed MNCH strategy and as governments adopt greater collaboration through public-private partnerships, the Global Network is calling on the Canadian government, NGOs, research organizations and the private sector to include action against neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) within their new MNCH framework and global health and development priorities.

NTDs are a group of 17 parasitic and bacterial infections with a larger extension since they affect more than 1 billion people worldwide. Soil-transmitted helminths (STH or parasitic infections) such as hookworm can cause severe anemia and contribute to pregnancy complications in women and severe malnutrition in children. Schistosomiasis infections keep young girls and women in a vulnerable situation for HIV/AIDS infections. And the impact of NTDs stretches far beyond the health sector – they also impact educational achievement, food security, economic growth and gender equality.

NTDs pose a threat to the development of endemic countries by trapping the most vulnerable populations in cycles of poverty and disease, and by undercutting ongoing efforts to achieve the MDGs. The control and elimination of NTDs will be critical to eradicating poverty and to attaining the Sustainable Development Goals set by the post-2015 development agenda process.

The Canadian government has been a strong leader in global MNCH efforts, as evidenced through the widely successful Muskoka Initiative. Announced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper at the G8 Summit in June 2010 in Toronto, the Muskoka Initiative has advanced the critical goals of improving the health of women and children in developing countries and reducing the number of preventable deaths. By 2015, Canada will have dedicated $2.85 billion to this initiative, focusing on three priorities: strengthening health systems, reducing the burden of disease and improving nutrition.

Programs that address NTDs are “best-buys” in global health. Providing deworming medication for parasitic infections, along with other MNCH interventions such as iron supplements and vitamin A, can help reduce anemia and malnutrition — improving the overall health of mothers and children. A golden opportunity exists for Canada to collaborate on NTDs with the private sector, which has stepped up to donate the drugs needed to prevent and treat worms and other NTDs.

NTDs inclusion into Canada’s MNCH and international development strategy can make a real difference in the results achieved in a short and mid-term period. This would lead the way for other countries, both donor and endemic, to make a political and financial commitment to end these diseases of poverty. Together, under this leadership, we will be able to reach the goals of the London Declaration on NTDs and the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Roadmap on Neglected Tropical Diseases, thus moving closer to eradicating poverty, and saving and improving the lives of mothers and children worldwide.

Kicking Off World Immunization Week with a Honduran Celebration

Latin America and the Caribbean, ,

 

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This post was originally published on the Sabin Vaccine Institute’s blog as part of their World Immunization Week blog series. 

Honduras will kick off Vaccination Week in the Americas (VWA) today with a day-long ceremony highlighting the importance of vaccines and other health interventions like deworming and vitamin A supplementation in improving health. The Honduras ceremony, taking place on Monday the 28th in Tegucigalpa, will run alongside World Immunization Week.

VWA represents a unique opportunity to deliver vaccines and other life-saving health interventions to those who need them most. Deworming, vitamin A supplementation, screenings for diabetes, Body Mass Index and blood pressure measurement, will all occur under the umbrella of VWA. In addition, VWA will serve as a platform for civil registration of children in remote communities, sexual and reproductive health education, and delivery of medical and dental care to out-of-regular access groups, among others.

In addition to partners from PAHO, UNICEF, GAVI and the government of Honduras, Sabin will be attending the VWA launch event to further promote vaccines, deworming, and a holistic, integrated approach to ensuring good health and well being.

Because Sabin’s Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases focuses on mass drug administration for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) like intestinal worms, the integration of deworming into VWA is of particular importance. The benefits of controlling intestinal worms through deworming extend to better health, better growth, better learning, and better earning.

The inclusion of deworming as part of VWA – and even more – as part of the regular schedule of vaccines –is extremely cost-effective. All children at risk for intestinal worms at the national level could receive treatment at almost no additional cost. Nurses and community health workers who give children their shots can easily administer deworming pills to these children during these scheduled immunization campaigns.

Additionally, treating intestinal worms helps make other interventions more effective, since the bodies and immune systems of children free of parasites are better prepared to benefit from nutrition, health care and immunizations.

In Honduras, more than a million school-aged children are at risk for intestinal worms and the prevalence of intestinal worms is estimated to be greater than 50 percent in almost half the municipalities. Countries like Honduras have a lot to gain from integrating deworming into regular vaccination programs. This is an effective solution that will boost economic potential and the health of the country’s population.

The integrated delivery package in Honduras’ Vaccination Week in the Americas (launch) is an excellent example for how vaccination and deworming can work together to provide better health for all. We’re looking forward to promoting and participating in such an important event and we encourage other countries to follow the example.

Social Media: For a recap on today’s events, check out the Global Network blog later tonight, 4/28, and follow along with the hashtag #VWALaunch. 

Nigeria Declared Guinea Worm-free: An Encouraging Accomplishment

Africa, ,

 

Nearly three years ago, Nigeria reported the last case of Guinea worm disease, and this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared the country Guinea worm-free. When considered in tandem with Nigeria’s centenary celebrations, this encouraging declaration is further testament to just how far the nation has come in its fight against poverty, which Guinea worm has been found to exacerbate.

Referred to as a “scourge” by President Goodluck Jonathan, Guinea worm (dracunculiasis) is an ancient neglected tropical disease (NTD) spread by ingesting water contaminated by Guinea worm larvae. The larvae grow to be about one meter long and emerge through an excruciatingly painful blister on the skin after incubating for about 9-12 months in its host. In 1988, 653,492 cases of Guinea worm were reported in Nigeria, and 26 years later there are zero cases-a truly remarkable feat, thanks to the commitment of Nigeria’s government and international partners.

Moving forward, President Jonathan looks to harness the momentum generated from this success to address other endemic diseases in Nigeria, with a particular focus on wild polio, hoping that its transmission will be interrupted by the end of the year at the very latest.

While President Jonathan did not explicitly mention other NTD efforts during the WHO certification ceremony, it is important to note that he has already committed to seeing the end of these diseases (notably onchocerciasis, lymphatic filariasis, and schistosomiasis) as confirmed in his new year’s message.

The Nigerian government’s persevering commitment to disease elimination is encouraging, after having overcome the most expensive and challenging last mile of Guinea worm that are characteristic of any elimination campaign.

In Nigeria’s resolve lies hope for its African counterparts still in their last steps to eliminate the near-extinct disease, only 148 cases of which are still present across South Sudan (113), Chad (14), Mali (11), Ethiopia (7) and Sudan (3).

I congratulate President Jonathan and the people of Nigeria for their important achievement so far and encourage them to continue making NTDs a priority as we all seek to achieve the 2020 elimination goal!