Neglected Tropical & Infectious Diseases

Biography

Biography: Benjamin G. Koudou

Abstract

Lymphatic filariasis (LF) is a major cause of acute and chronic morbidity and a significant impediment to socioeconomic development in 73 middle and low-income countries. The disease affects 120 million people and a further 1.4 billion are also at risk of acquiring the disease through exposure to mosquito bites. The Global Programme to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis (GPELF) through the WHO strategy of preventive chemotherapy and transmission control (PCT), has targeted LF for elimination by 2020. This will be achieved mainly by the mass drug  (MDA) of albendazole in combination with either ivermectin or diethylcarbamazine citrate (DEC). GPELF is one of the most rapidly expanding global health programs administering more than 540 million treatments in 54 countries in 2012. The MDA campaign has been most effective in the middle-income economies of Southeast Asia where all 15 endemic countries have initiated MDA. In Africa, only 18 of the 34 endemic countries were implementing MDA in 2012.  Many of the communities in countries yet to start MDA for LF elimination are in hard to reach areas in post-conflict environments with poor health systems infrastructure. Nevertheless, PCT presents an excellent platform for integrated control of other neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) where several diseases coexist, given that either or both ivermectin and albendazole are effective against onchocerciasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis. However, there are other challenges to be addressed if the 2020 target is to be achieved. The scientific community will need to address the issue of NTD elimination in urban settings (mainly LF and STH) and the persistence of LF transmission in countries where MDA started for many years.