scholarly journals Comparison and lessons learned from neglected tropical diseases and tuberculosis

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (10) ◽  
pp. e0000027
Author(s):  
Alice Wang ◽  
Adam MacNeil ◽  
Susan Maloney
Keyword(s):  
Neglected Tropical Diseases ◽  
Severe Disease ◽  
Infectious Agent ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Health Programs ◽  
Effective Vaccine ◽  
Therapeutic Drug ◽  
Tropical Diseases ◽  
Control Programs ◽  
Over 40 Years

Currently, tuberculosis (TB) is the leading cause of death from a single infectious agent and accounts for over one-third of all HIV-related deaths. However, research and programmatic funding have lagged far behind investments for many other diseases. For about a century, the current Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccine has been the only effective vaccine and is only effective in preventing severe disease in children; the first new therapeutic drug for TB in over 40 years was brought to market a few years ago; and until 10 years ago, diagnosis of TB depended on a century-old testing technique. This paper relates TB to neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) and highlights shared characteristics. The aim is to elevate awareness of TB within the framework of NTDs and gain insights from successes in addressing NTDs and how these lessons can be applied to help global health programs change the trajectory of the TB epidemic. A literature review was conducted to compare TB to NTDs and highlight lessons learned from NTD control that can be applied to the TB epidemic. Common features of NTDs include underlying burden of disease, influence and effect on poverty and development, and neglect through political will and funding. There are overarching principles for the design and implementation of NTD control programs that could be applied to ending TB.

scholarly journals Comparative Assessment of the Pharmacovigilance Systems within the Neglected Tropical Diseases Programs in East Africa—Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, and Tanzania

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 1941
Author(s):  
Abbie Barry ◽  
Sten Olsson ◽  
Christabel Khaemba ◽  
Joseph Kabatende ◽  
Tigist Dires ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neglected Tropical Diseases ◽  
Individual Case ◽  
Health Programs ◽  
Pharmacovigilance System ◽  
Tropical Diseases ◽  
East African ◽  
East African Community ◽  
Public Health Programs ◽  
Assessment And Evaluation ◽  
African Community

Monitoring the safety of medicines used in public health programs (PHPs), including the neglected tropical diseases (NTD) program, is a WHO recommendation, and requires a well-established and robust pharmacovigilance system. The objective of this study was to assess the pharmacovigilance systems within the NTD programs in Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, and Tanzania. The East African Community Harmonized Pharmacovigilance Indicators tool for PHPs was used to interview the staff of the national NTD programs. Data on four components, (i) systems, structures, and stakeholder coordination; (ii) data management and signal generation; (iii) risk assessment and evaluation; and (iv) risk management and communication, were collected and analyzed. The NTD programs in the four countries had a strategic master plan, with pharmacovigilance components and mechanisms to disseminate pharmacovigilance information. However, zero individual case safety reports were received in the last 12 months (2017/2018). There was either limited or no collaboration between the NTD programs and their respective national pharmacovigilance centers. None of the NTD programs had a specific budget for pharmacovigilance. The NTD program in all four countries had some safety monitoring elements. However, key elements, such as the reporting of adverse events, collaboration with national pharmacovigilance centers, and budget for pharmacovigilance activity, were limited/missing.

scholarly journals Assessment of the required performance and the development of corresponding program decision rules for neglected tropical diseases diagnostic tests: Monitoring and evaluation of soil-transmitted helminthiasis control programs as a case study

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (9) ◽  
pp. e0009740
Author(s):  
Bruno Levecke ◽  
Luc E. Coffeng ◽  
Christopher Hanna ◽  
Rachel L. Pullan ◽  
Katherine M. Gass
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Sensitivity And Specificity ◽  
Diagnostic Tests ◽  
Diagnostic Performance ◽  
Neglected Tropical Diseases ◽  
Decision Rules ◽  
Monitoring And Evaluation ◽  
Tropical Diseases ◽  
Control Programs ◽  
Soil Transmitted Helminthiasis

Recently, the World Health Organization established the Diagnostic Technical Advisory Group to identify and prioritize diagnostic needs for neglected tropical diseases, and to ultimately describe the minimal and ideal characteristics for new diagnostic tests (the so-called target product profiles (TPPs)). We developed two generic frameworks: one to explore and determine the required sensitivity (probability to correctly detect diseased persons) and specificity (probability to correctly detect persons free of disease), and another one to determine the corresponding samples sizes and the decision rules based on a multi-category lot quality assurance sampling (MC-LQAS) approach that accounts for imperfect tests. We applied both frameworks for monitoring and evaluation of soil-transmitted helminthiasis control programs. Our study indicates that specificity rather than sensitivity will become more important when the program approaches the endgame of elimination and that the requirements for both parameters are inversely correlated, resulting in multiple combinations of sensitivity and specificity that allow for reliable decision making. The MC-LQAS framework highlighted that improving diagnostic performance results in a smaller sample size for the same level of program decision making. In other words, the additional costs per diagnostic tests with improved diagnostic performance may be compensated by lower operational costs in the field. Based on our results we proposed the required minimal and ideal diagnostic sensitivity and specificity for diagnostic tests applied in monitoring and evaluating of soil-transmitted helminthiasis control programs.

scholarly journals Cervical cancer: lessons learned from neglected tropical diseases

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. e299-e300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felicia Marie Knaul ◽  
Natalia M Rodriguez ◽  
Héctor Arreola-Ornelas ◽  
Julia R Olson
Keyword(s):  
Cervical Cancer ◽  
Neglected Tropical Diseases ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Tropical Diseases

scholarly journals Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases in Burundi: Partnerships, Achievements, Challenges, and Lessons Learned after Four Years of Programme Implementation

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. e2684 ◽  
Author(s):  
Onésime Ndayishimiye ◽  
Giuseppina Ortu ◽  
Ricardo J. Soares Magalhaes ◽  
Archie Clements ◽  
Johan Willems ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neglected Tropical Diseases ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Tropical Diseases ◽  
Programme Implementation

scholarly journals Update on Neglected Tropical Diseases of the Western Hemisphere

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. IDRT.S7401
Author(s):  
Esther Fischer ◽  
Calum N.L. Macpherson
Keyword(s):  
Neglected Tropical Diseases ◽  
Educational Programs ◽  
Western Hemisphere ◽  
Tropical Diseases ◽  
Healthcare Facilities ◽  
Control Programs ◽  
The Past ◽  
Poor Access ◽  
Basic Sanitation ◽  
And Control

Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) are responsible for millions of deaths and disabilities yearly, around the globe. The largest burden of these diseases falls on communities with poor access to basic sanitation, healthcare facilities, and educational programs. This review focuses on advances in vaccination, treatment and control programs over the past decade for the major NTDs of the Western Hemisphere: malaria, schistosomiasis, leishmaniasis, ankylostomiasis, lymphatic filiariasis, Chagas disease (American trypanosomiasis), and onchocerciasis. The discussion centers on challenges for NTD eradication and prospects for the future.

scholarly journals Restarting Neglected Tropical Diseases Programs in West Africa during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons Learned and Best Practices

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Achille Kabore ◽  
Stephanie L. Palmer ◽  
Ernest Mensah ◽  
Virginie Ettiegne-Traore ◽  
Rose Monteil ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
West Africa ◽  
International Development ◽  
Neglected Tropical Diseases ◽  
Epidemiological Data ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Tropical Diseases ◽  
Prevention Measures ◽  
Health Ministries

Countries across West Africa began reporting COVID-19 cases in February 2020. By March, the pandemic began disrupting activities to control and eliminate neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) as health ministries ramped up COVID-19–related policies and prevention measures. This was followed by interim guidance from the WHO in April 2020 to temporarily pause mass drug administration (MDA) and community-based surveys for NTDs. While the pandemic was quickly evolving worldwide, in most of West Africa, governments and health ministries took quick action to implement mitigation measures to slow the spread. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Act to End NTDs | West program (Act | West) began liaising with national NTD programs in April 2020 to pave a path toward the eventual resumption of activities. This process consisted of first collecting and analyzing COVID-19 epidemiological data, policies, and standard operating procedures across the program’s 11 countries. The program then developed an NTD activity restart matrix that compiled essential considerations to restart activities. By December 2020, all 11 countries in Act | West safely restarted MDA and certain surveys to monitor NTD prevalence or intervention impact. Preliminary results show satisfactory MDA program coverage, meaning that enough people are taking the medicine to keep countries on track toward achieving their NTD disease control and elimination goals, and community perceptions have remained positive. The purpose of this article is to share the lessons and best practices that have emerged from the adoption of strategies to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus during MDA and other program activities.

scholarly journals Improving Timeliness in the Neglected Tropical Diseases Preventive Chemotherapy Donation Supply Chain through Information Sharing: A Retrospective Empirical Analysis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Kasparis ◽  
Yufei Huang ◽  
William Lin ◽  
Christos Vasilakis
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Global Health ◽  
Information Sharing ◽  
Neglected Tropical Diseases ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
World Health ◽  
Health Programs ◽  
Performance Measurement System ◽  
Tropical Diseases ◽  
The Impact

Background   Billions of doses of medicines are donated for mass drug administrations in support of the World Health Organization’s “Roadmap to Implementation,” which aims to control, eliminate, and eradicate Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs). The supply chain to deliver these medicines is complex, with fragmented data systems and limited visibility on performance. This study empirically evaluates the impact of an online supply chain performance measurement system, “NTDeliver,” providing understanding of the value of information sharing towards the success of global health programs.   Methods  Retrospective secondary data was extracted from NTDeliver, which included 1,484 shipments for four critical medicines ordered by over 100 countries between February 28, 2006 and December 31, 2018. We applied statistical regression models to analyze the impact on key performance metrics, comparing data before and after the system was implemented.   Findings  The results suggest information sharing has a positive impact on three performance indicators: purchase order timeliness (β=1.01, p<0.000), arrival timeliness (β=0.53, p=0.09), and—most importantly—delivery timeliness (β=0.73, p=0.03). Three variables indicated an increased positive impact when the data is publicly shared: shipment timeliness (β=2.57, p=0.001), arrival timeliness (β=2.88, p=0?003), and delivery timeliness (β=2.82, p=0.01).   Conclusions Our findings suggest that information sharing between the NTD program partners can help drive improved performance in the supply chain, and even more so when data is shared publicly. Given the large volume of medicine and the significant number of people requiring these medicines, information sharing has the potential to provide improvements to global health programs affecting the health of tens to hundreds of millions of people

scholarly journals Improving timeliness in the neglected tropical diseases preventive chemotherapy donation supply chain through information sharing: A retrospective empirical analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (11) ◽  
pp. e0009523
Author(s):  
Elena Kasparis ◽  
Yufei Huang ◽  
William Lin ◽  
Christos Vasilakis
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Global Health ◽  
Information Sharing ◽  
Neglected Tropical Diseases ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Health Programs ◽  
Performance Measurement System ◽  
Supply Chain Performance ◽  
Tropical Diseases ◽  
The Impact

Background Billions of doses of medicines are donated for mass drug administrations in support of the World Health Organization’s “Roadmap to Implementation,” which aims to control, eliminate, and eradicate Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs). The supply chain to deliver these medicines is complex, with fragmented data systems and limited visibility on performance. This study empirically evaluates the impact of an online supply chain performance measurement system, “NTDeliver,” providing understanding of the value of information sharing towards the success of global health programs. Methods Retrospective secondary data were extracted from NTDeliver, which included 1,484 shipments for four critical medicines ordered by over 100 countries between February 28, 2006 and December 31, 2018. We applied statistical regression models to analyze the impact on key performance metrics, comparing data before and after the system was implemented. Findings The results suggest information sharing has a positive association with improvement for two key performance indicators: purchase order timeliness (β = 0.941, p = 0.003) and—most importantly—delivery timeliness (β = 0.828, p = 0.027). There is a positive association with improvement for three variables when the data are publicly shared: shipment timeliness (β = 2.57, p = 0.001), arrival timeliness (β = 2.88, p = 0.003), and delivery timeliness (β = 2.82, p = 0.011). Conclusions Our findings suggest that information sharing between the NTD program partners via the NTDeliver system has a positive association with supply chain performance improvements, especially when data are shared publicly. Given the large volume of medicine and the significant number of people requiring these medicines, information sharing has the potential to provide improvements to global health programs affecting the health of tens to hundreds of millions of people.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document