Tag: NTD

To maximise the likelihood of success, global health programmes need repeated, honest appraisal of their own weaknesses, with research undertaken to address any identified gaps. There is still much to be learned to optimise work against neglected tropical diseases. To facilitate that learning, a comprehensive research and development plan is required. Here, we discuss how such a plan might be developed.

David Mabey, Ellen Agler, John H Amuasi, Leda Hernandez, T Déirdre Hollingsworth, Peter J Hotez, Patrick J Lammie, Mwelecele N Malecela, Sultani H Matendechero, Eric Ottesen, Richard O Phillips, John C Reeder, Célia Landmann Szwarcwald, Joseph P Shott, Anthony W Solomon, Andrew Steer, Soumya Swaminathan. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 2020 Nov 11;traa114. doi: 10.1093/trstmh/traa114.

Accurate and reliable diagnostic tools are an essential requirement for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) programmes. However, the NTD community has historically underinvested in the development and improvement of diagnostic tools, potentially undermining the successes achieved over the last 2 decades. Recognizing this, the WHO, in its newly released draft roadmap for NTD 2021-2030, has identified diagnostics as one of four priority areas requiring concerted action to reach the 2030 targets. As a result, WHO established a Diagnostics Technical Advisory Group (DTAG) to serve as the collaborative mechanism to drive progress in this area. Here, the purpose and role of the DTAG are described in the context of the challenges facing NTD programmes.

Ashley A Souza, Camilla Ducker, Daniel Argaw, Jonathan D King, Anthony W Solomon, Marco A Biamonte, Rhea N Coler, Israel Cruz, Veerle Lejon, Bruno Levecke, Fabricio K Marchini, Michael Marks, Pascal Millet, Sammy M Njenga, Rahmah Noordin, René Paulussen, Esvawaran Sreekumar, Patrick J Lammie. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 2020 Nov 9;traa118. doi: 10.1093/trstmh/traa118.