Sleeping sickness: a health scourge that refuses to be put to rest

African trypanosomiasis currently puts 70 million people at risk. Though control efforts have produced good results, there can be no elimination without wider health system reformsElimination of Human African Trypanosomiasis, sleeping sickness as it's commonly known, has been on the global health agenda for well over a decade (pdf). In 2001, when unprecedented amounts of drugs were donated by the French pharmaceutical company Aventis (now Sanofi), the global health community began to think disease elimination would become a reality yet the disease remains endemic in 36 sub-Saharan African countries today, putting some 70 million people at risk.World Health Organisation set the target for elimination: less than 2,000 new cases reported annually. To meet this goal it is estimated that there would need to be a 500 case reduction annually from 2012 until 2020. Systematic control and surveillance activities have been the main route towards elimination across the continent. When the cost of control has exceeded the capacities of the responsible governmentals (due to a lack of funds, political insecurity or decreasing staff), various NGOs have stepped in to bridge the gap – with some success.In 2009, WHO announced that the number of new cases reported had dropped below 10,000 for the first time in 50 years, representing a decrease of 63% since 2000. In 2012, just 70 new cases were reported in Angola, compared to 4,500 (pdf) at the turn of the millennium. From Cameroon to South Sud...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Global health Blogposts Guardian Professional Infectious diseases Malaria and infectious diseases Health policy Society Drugs Global development professionals network World Health Organisation Policy and advocacy Source Type: news