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- Title
Assessing Progress in Reducing the At-Risk Population after 13 Years of the Global Programme to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis.
- Authors
Hooper, Pamela J.; Chu, Brian K.; Mikhailov, Alexei; Ottesen, Eric A.; Bradley, Mark
- Abstract
Background: In 1997, the World Health Assembly adopted Resolution 50.29, committing to the elimination of lymphatic filariasis (LF) as a public health problem, subsequently targeted for 2020. The initial estimates were that 1.2 billion people were at-risk for LF infection globally. Now, 13 years after the Global Programme to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis (GPELF) began implementing mass drug administration (MDA) against LF in 2000—during which over 4.4 billion treatments have been distributed in 56 endemic countries—it is most appropriate to estimate the impact that the MDA has had on reducing the population at risk of LF. Methodology/Principal Findings: To assess GPELF progress in reducing the population at-risk for LF, we developed a model based on defining reductions in risk of infection among cohorts of treated populations following each round of MDA. The model estimates that the number of people currently at risk of infection decreased by 46% to 789 million through 2012. Conclusions/Significance: Important progress has been made in the global efforts to eliminate LF, but significant scale-up is required over the next 8 years to reach the 2020 elimination goal. Author Summary: Lymphatic filariasis (LF) is a widespread neglected tropical disease most frequently recognized as elephantiasis that is caused by parasitic worms and spread by mosquitoes. To overcome this public health problem, the World Health Organization created the Global Programme to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis (GPELF) in 2000, subsequently committing to the elimination of LF as a public health problem by the year 2020. Between 2000 and 2012, GPELF provided over 4.4 billion treatments in 56 endemic countries. In order to assess the progress during the first 13 years of GPELF in reducing the at-risk population (initially 1.2 billion) requiring treatment for LF, we developed a model that indicates that the number of people remaining at-risk of infection has decreased by nearly half through 2012 to 789 million people globally. This is important progress in the global efforts to eliminate LF, but significant scale-up is still required over the next 8 years to achieve the 2020 elimination goal.
- Subjects
WORLD Health Organization; FILARIASIS; NEGLECTED diseases; HELMINTHS
- Publication
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 2014, Vol 8, Issue 11, p1
- ISSN
1935-2727
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1371/journal.pntd.0003333