Tag Archives: Dr. Peter Hotez

Experts Weigh In On Successes, Challenges with Tackling NTDs

NTDs,

 

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Photo by Esther Havens

 

Sabin Vaccine Institute president Dr. Peter Hotez and many of our neglected tropical disease (NTD) partners contributed to a comprehensive report in Infectious Disease News on efforts to control and eliminate NTDs by 2020.

“NTDs require more recognition, resources to be controlled,” by Emily Shafer, details the activities currently underway and provides a frank assessment of the challenges we must overcome. Experts remarked on a number of priorities, including: carrying out advocacy, conducting mass drug administration, encouraging greater investments from current and potential donor governments, integrating NTDs in existing development interventions and building up endemic countries’ infrastructure to deliver treatments.

Here are some of the highlights:

On donor government funding:

“According to [Dr. Peter] Hotez, with the exception of the U.S. and British governments, there has not been widespread funding provided by other G-20 countries for NTD control or elimination. However, this may change in the coming years, and now some G-20 countries are supporting research and development efforts for NTDs.”

On the importance of strengthening capacity:

“We need to take advantage of the large donations to distribute free and safe medications to distribute to the poorest of the poor. … We need to develop the infrastructure to deliver the medicine, along with health education and community engagement, so that everyone is on board with the process.” – Dr. Frank O. Richards, director of the River Blindness, Lymphatic Filariasis, Schistosomiasis and Malaria Programs at the Carter Center

On NTD integration:

“Bed nets don’t only prevent malaria, they will also help eliminate lymphatic filariasis. We’re trying to get people to take a more holistic view of the way health care interventions are delivered to local communities.” – Dr. James Kazura, director of the Center for Global Health and Diseases and professor of international health, medicine and pathology at Case Western Reserve University

On our end goal:

“If the drug donations continue and we continue reaching out to people and delivering treatments, then the net results will be that the diseases disappear.” – Dr. Alan Fenwick, professor of tropical parasitology at Imperial College London

For the full article, click here.

A Disproportionate Burden of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) found in India and South Asia

Asia, India, NTDs, , , , , South Asia

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Oct. 25, 2011 – The open-access journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases today published a comprehensive report showcasing the disproportionately high burden of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) in India and South Asia. These diseases of poverty continue to plague the 1.5 billion people living in the region, despite the World Bank’s recent report that South Asia experienced 7 percent overall economic growth in 2010.

The article, co-authored by Dr. Peter J. Hotez, president of the Sabin Vaccine Institute, examines the reasons for the apparent disconnect between the region’s economic progress and its health systems. Dr. Hotez, along with co-authors Dr. Derek A. Lobo, Dr. Raman Velayudhan, Dr. Priya Chatterjee and Dr. Harajeshwar Kohil, call for better management of NTD programs in South Asia in order to lessen the region’s NTD burden.

The eight countries studied in the article, part of the World Bank’s definition of South Asia —Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka – represent almost one quarter of the global population, or approximately 1.5 billion people, two thirds of whom (or nearly 1 billion people) live on less than $2 (USD) per day.

“This extreme level of poverty is paralleled by high rates of NTDs,” explains Dr. Lobo, Consultant, Department of Public Health, Manipal University. “For example, South Asian countries account for approximately one quarter of the world’s soil-transmitted helminth infections, one-third or more of the global deaths from rabies and one-half or more of the global burden of lymphatic filariasis, visceral leishmaniasis and leprosy. These high disease rates directly relate to the region’s continued struggle with poverty and economic disparity.” Continue reading →

Sabin Vaccine Institute Receives €5.9 Million from Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Advance Development of Human Hookworm Vaccine

Africa, Global Development, Global Health, hookworm, Latin America and the Caribbean, NTDs, poverty, Public Health, , , , , human hookworm vaccine, , , , , , vaccineEteenaT

Sabin Vaccine Institute (Sabin) announced receipt of a four-year, €5.9 million grant from the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs to support the development of a vaccine to combat human hookworm infection.

Hookworm infection, an intestinal parasitic disease most commonly found in sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America, affects an estimated 600 million people.

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