Resources

Adverse events (AEs) particularly severe adverse events (SAEs) during and following mass drug administration have a serious effect not only on the people who are affected directly, but also on the viability of the MOH’s national NTD control program.

Trachoma baseline surveys, trachoma impact surveys, trachoma surveillance surveys, and trichiasis-only surveys are key disease-specific assessments of trachoma elimination programs, used to start mass drug administration (MDA), monitor progress, decide when to stop MDA, and inform attainment of elimination of trachoma as a public health problem.

West African neglected tropical diseases (NTD) programs have made great progress toward the elimination/control of NTDs amenable to preventive chemotherapy. However, some districts have failed impact surveys—notably for lymphatic filariasis and trachoma—due to implementation inadequacies, despite reporting good mass treatment coverage. A quality improvement framework has been initiated to strengthen country program interventions and address issues that hinder their ability to achieve the World Health Organization NTD road map elimination/control goals.  The workshop aims to present an innovative model for improving implementation and discuss ideas, strategies, and plans for initiating quality improvement (QI) activities. Experiences from Ghana and Sierra Leone in the design and implementation of the QI model will be shared. 

Updates on operational research for lymphatic filariasis were shared from the Neglected Tropical Diseases Support Center on January 16, 2020.

The Carter Center's Emily Griswold presents on improving mass drug administration tools on January 16, 2020.

RTI's Clara Burgert and Diana Lu talk about how to ensure high-quality standardized surveys on January 16, 2020.

RTI's Clara Burgert leads a panel discussion on how to investigate and respond to LF survey failures on January 15, 2020.

IMA World Health's Abdel Direny, MD, MPH, presented guidance for transmission assessment survey preparation and supervision on January 15, 2020.

IMA Tanzania's Andreas Nshala presents Tanzania's experience with conducting transmission assessment surveys for lymphatic filariasis on January 15, 2020.

The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Caitlin Worrell discussed filariasis test strip quality as a diagnostic tool and reporting issues with the tool on January 14, 2020.