Filed under NTDs

Intervention by the Cambodian government has helped bring Schostosomiasis rates down from 30-70% to just 5% in its most affected provinces.

Irin reports,

Since 2002, the Cambodian government has overseen a vast deworming programme. In 2004, the country was the first to reach the WHO’s goal of covering three-quarters of school-aged children, or three million people.

This is a major triumph: the Carter Centre reports “In terms of its social and economic impacts, snail fever is second only to malaria as the most devastating parasitic disease in tropical countries” (Irin).

See here for the full Irin article, which explains and illustrates many of the causes, consequences and ways to tackle Schistosomiasis.

GlaxoSmithKleine have pledged to donate £12m per year of the drug albendazole, which will treat some of the world’s poorest people for intestinal worms. The one billion tablets to be donated are sufficient to treat every child in Africa. Other drugs companies have followed up with similar commitments.

See here for the full story, from the Guardian’s Global Health Blog.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has produced its first ever report into Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs). It carries a hugely promising message: “It is entirely possible to control neglected tropical diseases. Aiming at their complete control and even elimination is fully justified.”

The report stresses that

There are already, “Good medicines are available for many of these diseases, and research continues to document their safety and efficacy when administered individually or in combination.”

The WHO report also highlights the cost-effectiveness of tackling NTDs, and how the benefits of such action would reach widely beyond healthcare. For example:

“On the basis of the estimated rate of return to education in Kenya, deworming is likely to increase the net present value of wages by more than US$ 40 per treated person. Benefit-to-cost ratio = 100. Deworming may increase adult income by 40%. The economic cost of trachoma in terms of lost productivity is estimated at US$ 2.9 billion annually.”

Here is a good starter article on the report, with a link to the report pdf itself in the first paragraph.

Here is the WHO’s own short article launching the report.