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Focus Areas
The U.S. Agency for International Development's (USAID) Act to End NTD | West program seeks to support disease-endemic countries to control and/or eliminate Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) using preventive chemotherapy through proven, cost-effective public health interventions. Act to End NTDs | West also supports national NTD programs (NTDP) in their advancement towards global NTD elimination goals and leverages drug donations to control the NTDs that cannot be eliminated yet.
In 2018–2023, Act to End NTDs | West has four large focus areas for program activities:
Mass drug administration
Act to End NTDs | West supports national mass drug treat campaigns in communities suffering from seven NTDs—lymphatic filariasis (LF), trachoma, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis, and three types of soil-transmitted helminthiases. The program aims to help national NTDPs in supported countries to increase MDA coverage among at-risk populations as well as eliminate lymphatic filariasis, trachoma, and where feasible, onchocerciasis. Program activities in this focus area include:
- MDA implementation
- Community outreach
- Drug procurement & supply chain support
- Cross-border initiatives
- Annual training for MDA
Support for NTD Sustainability
The Program seeks to strengthen the country environment for national NTDPs to help ensure sustainable national NTDP implementation and management and support NTDP mainstreaming into national health systems. Program activities in this focus area include:
- Advocacy and policies
- Cross-sector collaboration
- NTD governance
- Strategic health information
NTD Capacity Building
To help ensure optimal NTDP operations, improve MDA reach, and support NTDP efficiency, the Program facilitates various types of training and a variety of capacity building activities.
Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, Learning and Adapting (MERLA)
To track disease burden; document national NTDP and Program experience, progress and success; contribute to NTD knowledge and learning; and verify national disease elimination as a public health problem, Act | West has robust MERLA capacity. Program activities in this focus area include:
- Disease-specific assessments, post-treatment surveillance, and related training
- Disease & morbidity mapping & assessment
- Learning & quality improvement
- Data for decision-making
- Operational research
- Dossier development
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