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At the Regional Committee for Africa meeting held in Lomé on Monday, August 22, 2022, WHO announced that Togo had become the first country in the world to eradicate four neglected tropical diseases (dracunculiasis, lymphatic filariasis, human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), and trachoma.
Today, Priorité Santé provides an update on lymphatic filariasis, commonly known as elephantiasis, a neglected tropical disease. Infection occurs when the filarial parasites, which cause the disease, are transmitted to humans by mosquitoes. Usually contracted in childhood, this infection causes an inconspicuous alteration of the lymphatic system and can lead to an abnormal increase in the volume of certain parts of the body, resulting in pain, severe disability and social stigmatization. According to the WHO, in 2018, 51 million people had been infected, a 74% drop since the start of the Global Program to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis in 2000.
What is the support? How to eradicate this NTD?
- Prof. Olivier Bouchaud, Head of the Infectious and Tropical Diseases Department, CHU Avicenna in Bobigny, in the Paris region. And President of the Association for Reception of Refugee Doctors and Health Personnel in France
- Pr Monique Dorkenoo, Associate Lecturer in Parasitology Mycology at the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of Lomé at the Ministry of Health; coordinator of the National Lymphatic Filariasis Elimination Program from 2008 to 2019
- Dr. Clarisse Bougouma, Coordinator of the National Program for the Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
- Coffee King, security guard in a private company in Lomé, Togo.
(Replay)