Solutions

The messages articulated by advocates of NTD eradication, elimination and control have gradually been recognized amongst the best investments that a health dollar can buy. -David Molyneux

Solutions

Problem: Neglected tropical diseases affect approximately 1.4 billion of the poorest of the poor worldwide. That’s more than double the US population!

Solution:  Current control efforts focus primarily on mass drug administration (MDA) to treat the seven most common NTDs.
 

What’s MDA?

MDA is the administration of drugs to entire populations in efforts to control and eliminate disease. MDAs occur several times a year until an area is free of the disease. Some of the seven most common NTDs can be treated with a single drug, while others require a combination of several drugs.

At the Global Network, we encourage an integrated treatment approach, known as the rapid-impact package, which treats the seven most common NTDs through a combination of four drugs.

The rapid-impact package is an inexpensive, safe and simple dose that is easily implemented and helps streamline NTD control efforts. This integrated approach is also highly cost-effective. Armed with four drugs, three of which are donated, major treatment efforts can integrate control of the seven most common NTDs.

At approximately 50 cents per person per year, integrated treatment efforts significantly reduce the morbidity, blindness, and skin disease caused by NTDs, dramatically improving health, growth, physical performance, educational performance, cognitive function, productivity and future wage earnings.
 

Partnering for Treatment

In recent decades, the pharmaceutical industry has amassed an impressive track record of partnering with non-governmental organizations on large-scale treatment campaigns for diseases of poverty. The drug donations themselves are valued at over US $1 billion and represent the largest drug donations in history. The few drugs that are not donated**(DEC will be  donated as of 2012) are available at very low costs.

Pharmaceutical manufacturers have greatly increased the feasibility of control efforts by donating most of the drugs needed to treat the seven most common NTDs. This philanthropy reduces programmatic costs and enhances sustainability at the country level. In fact, long-term partnerships with the pharmaceutical industry allow Global Network members to provide the rapid-impact package at a cost of approximately 50 cents per person, per year.
 

Eisai** &   Lymphatic filariasis

*Praziquantel is donated in quantities that do not match the global need.
**Donation will begin in 2012 over a six year period.

 

What about community approaches?

The Global Network believes that development efforts succeed through the empowerment of local stakeholders and the organization of sustainable health infrastructure. The impact of sustainability is critical in the ongoing fight against neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).

Our collaborators and public-private partners work with local governments, schools, healthcare systems and organizations to deliver medications to those suffering from NTDs. Some of the most effective delivery solutions come through community-led efforts.

Community-driven Successes at a Glance

• Over 600,165 community drug distributors have been trained and engaged in CDTI projects since APOC’s inception, and they have delivered nearly 965,000,000 ivermectin tablets distributed in 11 years (1997-2007)
• CDTI has been so successful in combating onchocerciasis that its mandate has expanded to combat a number of other global health challenges including malaria, vitamin A deficiency, and poor immunization coverage
• A recent WHO/TDR study completed among 2.35 million people in three countries found that the uptake of individual interventions was improved when they were delivered as a package through community drug distributors:
  • Home-based malaria-care coverage doubled
  • Bed-net usage was doubled
  • Vitamin A usage increased to 90%--significantly higher than in the districts not using the community-directed method
• School-based deworming in Kenya was shown to reduce absenteeism by 25%--the most cost-effective means of keeping children in school