Neglected Tropical Diseases

Mary-Lynne Lasco of INMED Partnerships for Children in the U.S. will evaluate whether on-site sustainable food production and associated education in schools improves child health when combined with semi-annual deworming treatments and a new school feeding program in Peru. Many Peruvian children are malnourished, and soil-transmitted helminth infections are endemic and a significant cause of mortality.

Liam Morrison and Ivan Morrison of the Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom will develop a new type of drug for treating diseases in animals and humans caused by African trypanosomes, which cause significant disease in sub-Saharan Africa. African trypanosomes evade the host immune system by varying their surface proteins, which can be recognized by conventional antibodies, precluding the development of an effective vaccine.

Romeo Montoya of OPS/OMS Honduras in Honduras will test an integrated approach of deworming, education, vitamin A supplements, and improved water quality and sanitation to decrease the incidence and effects of intestinal parasites in school children in Honduras. Intestinal worms are highly prevalent in Honduras and a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. By integrating several treatment strategies together with national vaccination campaigns they hope to broaden coverage to the entire population and reduce costs.

Prasenjit Mondal of the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research in Bangladesh will test whether supplying deworming medication to women of reproductive age reduces the incidence of helminth infections and associated anemia. Current mass drug administration efforts to eradicate parasitic infections are fairly successful but focus predominantly on school children. The incidence of infection in women of fertility age remains high, which affects both maternal and child health.

Susana Nery of the University of Queensland in Australia will test whether soil transmitted helminth infections in school children from developing countries can be better controlled by providing deworming and improved hygiene practices to an entire community as opposed to just the schools, which is the current WHO recommendation. They will conduct a pilot study in Timor-Leste by recruiting primary schools and providing the recommended anti-helminthic drug albendazole along with access to improved water and hygiene practices either within the schools or to the local community.

Hesham Al-Mekhlafi of the University of Malaya in Malaysia in collaboration with Azal University for Human Development in Yemen will recruit and train youths and young researchers from rural areas in Yemen to teach their communities about preventing and treating specific enteric diseases. Although effective drugs exist for treating intestinal parasitic diseases such as soil-transmitted helminthiasis, many remain endemic in Yemen, particularly in rural populations where knowledge and attitudes towards these diseases are poor.

Zvi Bentwich of Ben Gurion University in Israel will support mass drug eradication efforts against parasitic worm infections in Ethiopia by implementing in parallel a health education campaign run by local students and the provision of clean water and sanitation facilities. They will test their approach on a region in Ethiopia containing 30 schools, which is connected to a wider population of 200,000.

James Ransom of IFETP in the U.S. will promote detection and treatment of five neglected tropical diseases in South Sudan by exploiting and further developing an existing health infrastructure that has successfully reduced the incidence of guinea worm disease. They will target two regions with particularly high incidences of the targeted diseases, and train the local health surveillance officers on preventative methods and to provide comprehensive care and treatment. They will also work to educate the public and media about these diseases.

Mwelecele Malecela of the National Institute for Medical Research in the United Republic of Tanzania will integrate the treatment of neglected tropical diseases with water, hygiene and sanitation programs to lower costs and maximize the use of resources. They will extend and develop local health infrastructures by generating income for community health workers, and involve people at all community levels in the project. In this way, they aim to provide a unified platform for managing and executing diverse projects related to the treatment of diseases to increase their long-term success.

Rebecca Katz of George Washington University in the U.S. will identify the most cost-efficient and effective way to integrate the existing mass drug administration program for the parasitic disease schistosomiasis with the control program for malaria in Yemen. Both diseases are widespread in Yemen, but control efforts are currently separate, so combining them would pool financial and human resources.