Assessing the Impact of a Missed Mass Drug Administration in Haiti

Lymphatic filariasis (LF) is a disfiguring and debilitating parasitic disease that is endemic in 81 countries, placing a staggering 1.3 billion people at risk for filarial infection [1]. In 1997, the World Health Assembly resolved to eliminate LF as a public health problem, and in 2000, the Global Programme to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis (GPELF) was officially launched. Coupled with the development of essential diagnostic tools, the primary strategy devised to achieve LF elimination was to implement annual mass drug administration (MDA) using combinations of albendazole plus either diethylcarbamazine or ivermectin for at-risk populations [2]. These single-dose treatment regimens were chosen for their ability to significantly reduce microfilaremia for periods of up to one year, limiting the transmission potential. Through generous donations of drugs from GlaxoSmithKline and Merck & Co., the global program began its first treatments in 2000. Since then, 48 of the 81 endemic countries have implemented MDA and almost 2 billion treatments have been provided [1]. These treatments have led to dramatic reductions in microfilaremia and have provided significant collateral benefit by reducing soil-transmitted helminthiasis [3],[4]. Furthermore, more than 6 million cases of hydrocele and 4 million cases of lymphedema have been prevented in the last eight years, translating into more than 32 million disability-adjusted life years averted [3]. Through the efforts of a national program, China became the first country to declare the elimination of LF as a public health problem, and in March 2008, the Republic of Korea also made a similar announcement [1].

• Publication year

  2009

• Venue

  PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases

• Publication date

  2009-08-01

• Fields of study

  Medicine, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1371/journal.pntd.0000443PMID 19707279PMCID 2724684
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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