News

A doctor in Ghana stands against a wall with a face mask tucked under his chin.

World Health Organization issues interim guidance for implementation of NTD programs

Due to COVID-19 pandemic, the WHO issued interim guidance for implementing NTD programs, which recommends that community-based surveys, active case-finding activities & mass treatment campaigns for NTDs be postponed until further notice.
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Bringing neglected tropical diseases onto the world stage

Can you imagine trying to provide for your family while sick with a disease that makes your eyelashes turn inward and painfully scratch your corneas with each blink? Or attending school when your skin itches nonstop because you are infected with worms? These are some of the challenges that people with neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) face every day.
A nurse from the Salembaoré Health and Social Promotion Centre meets with a family during a survey registration session. Photo: Lucien Mano, HKI-Burkina Faso

Treating all, missing none: Lessons learned from a survey in Burkina Faso

Lymphatic filariasis (LF) is a highly debilitating and stigmatizing disease that impacts the lives of the poorest. LF can lead to severe swelling and cause permanent disability. Since 2001, Burkina Faso has treated large numbers of people with medicines each year to prevent and break the transmission of LF and ultimately, to eliminate the disease as a nationwide public health problem.
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USAID Act To End NTDs Lymphatic Filariasis Workshop: Improving Disease Specific Assessment

This workshop will help in-country program managers have better understanding and use of available tools for implementation of high-quality diseases-specific assessments (DSAs).
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Gender and neglected tropical disease front-line workers: Data from 16 countries

In the past, our understanding of the demographics of these workers has been limited, but with increased access to sex-disaggregated data, we begin to explore the implications of gender and sex for the success of NTD front-line workers.
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Act | West at ASTMH Annual Meeting 2019

The American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene's (ASTMH) 68th Annual Meeting takes place at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland on November 20 - 24. The ASTMH Annual Meeting draws over 4,000 tropical medicine and global health professionals representing government, philanthropy, non-profits, NGOs, industry, and more. Join the online conversation by using #TropMed19!
Trachoma Mapping Team in Cote d'Ivoire. Photo: Stephanie Palmer, FHI 360

2019 Annual Meeting of the Coalition for Operational Research on Neglected Tropical Diseases (COR-NTD)

Experts from USAID’s Act to End Neglected Tropical Diseases | West program consortium will participate in the 2019 Annual Meeting of the Coalition for Operational Research on Neglected Tropical Diseases (COR-NTD) at the MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland on November 18—19, 2019. COR-NTD meeting aims to strengthen the community of NTD researchers, program implementers and their supporters to address knowledge gaps in a coordinated way, and to inform the agenda of future NTD research. Join the conversation online by using #COR_NTD19.
12 people sit on one side of the table for a workshop.

STH Transition Planning Workshop Demonstrates Niger's Commitment to NTD Sustainability

The Government of Niger, with support from the Expanded Special Project for Elimination of Neglected Tropical Diseases (ESPEN), gathered neglected tropical disease (NTD) experts, cross-sector specialists from key ministries, and World Health Organization officials last week in Kollo to consolidate the results of a workshop on soil-transmitted helminthiasis (STH), commonly known as intestinal worms, held earlier this month.
Soldiers and police queue up to take disease-preventing medicine provided with support from USAID's Act to End Neglected Tropical Diseases l West program in Waterloo, Sierra Leone. Photo: Helen Keller International.

Approaches to Monitoring Mass Drug Administration in Sierra Leone

At the heart of control and elimination programs to combat neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) amenable to preventive chemotherapy is the successful implementation of annual mass drug administration (MDA), a large-scale effort to distribute safe and effective treatments to entire at-risk populations in an endemic area.
2019-2020 NNN Leadership. Photo: International Coalition for Trachoma Control

Senior Act | West Staff Join NNN Leadership

On September 19, 2019, the Neglected Tropical Disease NGO Network (NNN) named FHI 360’s Dr. Kisito Ogoussan, Implementation Management Lead on USAID’s Act to End NTDs | West program (Act | West), as its new Vice Chair for 2019–2020. The announcement came at the 2019 annual meeting in Liverpool, UK, as the NNN celebrated its tenth year of NGO partnership and collaboration.