Tag Archives: success story

Ecuador Becomes Second Country in the World to Eliminate River Blindness

Latin America and the Caribbean, NTDs, Onchocerciasis,

 

With help from the Carter Center and the Pan American Health Organization, Ecuador has officially become the second country in the world to achieve elimination of onchocerciasis (river blindness).

To eliminate onchocerciasis in Ecuador, the country had to overcome a major obstacle — Simulium exiguum; the main vector in Ecuador is exceptional at transmitting the disease. Ecuador’s Ministry of Health had been distributing medication in the country since 1990 — halting distribution in 2010 after transmission of the disease was successfully interrupted.

Watch a video from the Carter Center to see how treatment reached some of the most remote communities in Ecuador:

Ecuador is the second country in the world to receive verification from the World Health Organization in eliminating onchocerciasis after Colombia in 2013. The next challenge being undertaken in the fight against onchocerciasis in the Americas is addressing the disease in the scattered and migratory Yanomani population who live in the border area between Venezuela and Brazil.

Read the Pan American Health Organization’s press release here.

END7 Supports Strengthening and Scaling-Up of Deworming Campaigns in Peru

END7, Latin America and the Caribbean,

 

Peruvian health workers are helping end the burden of NTDs in Peru. Photo by INMED Andes

Peruvian health workers are helping control and eliminate NTDs. Photo by INPPACE

Approximately 3.5 million children are at risk for intestinal worms – including hookworm, whipworm and roundworm – in Peru. Even though Peru has experienced significant economic growth over the past decade, a large portion of its population continues to live in poverty, with four out of ten families still lacking access to clean water. Environments like these promote the transmission of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) like intestinal worms which can lead to malnutrition and anemia among children.

To address Peru’s NTD burden, the nonprofit organization INMED Partnerships for Children is working in collaboration with regional governments and regional departments of health and education to carry out deworming campaigns to address the burden of intestinal worms in particular. With support from the Global Network’s END7 campaign, INMED recently launched a study to evaluate the impact of these deworming campaigns on addressing intestinal worm infections and the nutritional status of children in Peru’s Ucayali Region. INMED is collaborating with the Peruvian Institute for Clinical and Experimental Parasitology to complete the study.

health workers are trained to measure the height & weight of children. Photo by INMED

Health workers are trained to measure the height & weight of children. Photo by INMED

The study will provide important insights on how to improve the effectiveness of deworming campaigns and will inform the scale up of deworming campaigns across Peru. Peru’s Ministry of Health has called for semiannual national deworming days and with the support of INMED and Johnson & Johnson, Peru will launch a nationwide campaign to treat millions of children living in NTD-endemic areas of Peru at the end of this year.

The END7-supported study will also build the capacity of local health staff. Already, training has been completed for community health workers to deliver deworming medicines, for laboratory technicians to diagnose intestinal worm infections, and for nurses to carry out nutritional assessments such as measuring children’s weight and height and their hemoglobin levels, an important indicator for anemia. By training local staff, INMED is strengthening Peru’s public health sector and creating a sustainable project that will continue to improve the health of Peruvians.

INMED’s efforts to increase access to NTD treatment among the most vulnerable communities in rural areas of Peru are inspiring. Thanks to the generosity of END7 donors, this project will lay the groundwork for future deworming campaigns that will reach more children at risk for intestinal worms in Peru.

The Results are In: U.S. Government Investments in Health

policy, ,

 

This post was originally published on the Sabin Vaccine Institute blog.

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Results released by the U.S. Government (USG) in September reveal that since fiscal year (FY) 2009, more than $50 billion has been invested by the USG in foreign assistance for health, saving millions of lives. In particular, investments in vaccines and the control and elimination of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) have significantly benefited some of the world’s most marginalized and vulnerable populations.

In response to the tremendous toll NTDs have on families and communities, USG efforts have targeted seven of the most common NTDs: lymphatic filariasis (LF), trachoma, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis and three intestinal worms (hookworm, roundworm, and whipworm). The NTD Program, administered by the U.S. Agency for International Development, reaches millions of men, women and children  with treatment each year working with Ministries of Health and Education and NGO partners — and their vast and well-established community-based distribution platforms.

The report shows that between FY2008 and FY2013, more than one billion cumulative NTD treatments have been provided to at-risk communities.

“As a result of the successful scale-up of treatment in the countries targeted, 40.7 million people no longer require district-level treatment for blinding trachoma, and 79.5 million people no longer require treatment for lymphatic filariasis. Three countries (Cambodia, Togo and Vietnam) have achieved the target of 60 percent of the population no longer requiring lymphatic filariasis MDA [mass drug administration]and three countries (Ghana, Mali and Nepal) have achieved the target of 70 percent of the population no longer requiring district-level trachoma MDA.”

Sabin’s Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases and its END7 campaign have complimented USG efforts in the past. For example, In July 2013, the END7 campaign partnered with Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Health and Helen Keller International (HKI) to help support Sierra Leone’s ongoing work to prevent and treat NTDs. END7 donations, totaling over $27,000, helped fund an MDA in the Western Rural Area of Sierra Leone and supported trainings for community health workers throughout the district. More than 50,000 children were treated for intestinal worms.

Alongside the control and elimination of NTDs, the USG is committed to protecting children across the world from vaccine-preventable diseases. Each year, nearly one million children die from pneumococcal infection and rotavirus infection — two diseases prioritized by Sabin.

Encouragingly, as the report states, “as of June 2014, 40 countries have introduced pneumococcal vaccines and 26 countries have introduced the rotavirus vaccine. By 2015, it is projected that the number will grow to 45 countries introducing PCV and 33 will have introduced the rotavirus vaccine.” This is exciting news on the heels of the Eleventh International Rotavirus Symposium held last week in New Delhi, India on September 3 – 5.

To further advance these USG global health priorities, Sabin also supports research and advocacy efforts to raise awareness about pneumococcal disease and encourages the introduction of pneumococcal vaccines worldwide. In addition, Sabin is working on numerous fronts to address the burden of rotavirus and facilitate the introduction globally of a rotavirus vaccine. Through the Rotavirus Organization of Technical Allies (ROTA) Council, a team of technical experts from around the world, Sabin seeks to provide the scientific and technical evidence that policymakers need to accelerate the introduction of rotavirus vaccines.

To read the full results, click here.

Haiti’s National Program for the Elimination of Lympathic Filariasis Prevails Despite Adversity

Haiti, Latin America and the Caribbean, lymphatic filariasis, , ,

 

Photo by Olivier Asselin

Photo by Olivier Asselin

Haiti has made remarkable progress against lymphatic filariasis (LF), a disfiguring and stigmatizing neglected tropical disease (NTD), despite facing many challenges. A recently published PLOS NTDs editorial highlights the perseverance and support displayed by the Haitian government and development partners, resulting in scaled-up mass drug administration (MDA) across the country, integrated programs with soil-transmitted helminths (also known as intestinal worms) and increased morbidity management. With these successes, the Haitian effort to eliminate LF can certainly be a model for other countries.

The Haitian Ministry of Public Health and Population (MSPP) established the National Program to Eliminate LF (NPELF) in 2000 to stop LF transmission and reduce the suffering of infected people. Key partners include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), CBM, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Abbott Foundation, PepsiCo, Frank Eck Family Foundation and others.

In the first MDA, conducted in Léogâne in 2000, the NPELF and local partners trained community leaders and health volunteers on medicine distribution techniques and educated them about LF treatment, transmission and prevention. Social mobilization was another integral component, spreading messages by banners, posters, radio and megaphones to increase the number of people participating in MDA.

Efforts then focused on scaling up the program to reach all people in need. However, over the course of many years, natural disasters and political and social unrest challenged expansion of the LF program. Just some examples include random acts of violence, devastating hurricanes and flooding, an earthquake and a vicious cholera outbreak.

Yet, increased advocacy, new funding and reinvigorated planning provided the necessary boosts to scale up and achieve results. One of the meetings that jumpstarted new progress was organized by the Global Network, Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and IDB. As the PLOS NTDs paper explains, “The partners affirmed their support for NTD control and elimination of LF, and the donor community responded. With new funding for MDA in Port-au-Prince from CDC and others, Haiti was finally poised for the first time to achieve full coverage of the entire country with MDA, with a population in excess of 10 million.”

Now, Haiti has achieved full national coverage, and it must strive for interrupted LF transmission. With strong partnerships and continued political commitment, this milestone is in Haiti’s grasp.

To read the full paper, “Haiti National Program for the Elimination of Lymphatic Filariasis — A Model of Success in the Face of Adversity,” click here.