Regional Meeting to boost efforts for the control of soil-transmitted Helminth infections (geohelminthiasis) in the Americas. (Lima, 1-3 August 2016)
Abstract
[Summary]. Neglected infectious diseases (NIDs) mainly affect populations facing certain social determinants including
poverty, low educational levels, poor housing, and limited access to clean drinking water, basic sanitation,
and health services.
Soil-transmitted helminthiasis (STH), or geohelminthiasis, is one of the most common neglected infectious
diseases. Soil-transmitted helminths have a chronic impact on health and development, and the cause
of infection is often undetected. While it is highly unusual for STH to cause direct mortality, infections
nevertheless cause considerable morbidity, with effects that are difficult to quantify in view of the long
duration of the infection (often over many years) and the presence of concurrent ailments and other factors,
such as poverty and malnutrition.
In order to design and implement large-scale deworming programs, it is essential to precisely determine the
scale of comorbidity linked to soil-transmitted helminthiasis and the burden of disease. In 2014, there were
102 endemic countries worldwide with populations at risk of infection, including approximately 600 million
school-age children, of whom 270 million had received treatment (45% coverage); 266 million preschool-age
children, of whom 170 million had received treatment (51% coverage); and 250 million women of childbearing
age. These three groups are considered at high risk because they are at an important stage of physical and
nutritional development. In the same year (2014), the populations in 25 countries of the Americas were at risk
of STH, including around 47 million children aged 1 to 14 (33.7 million school-age and 13.3 million preschoolage)...This Regional Meeting was attended by delegates from the health ministries of 15 countries; advisors from
PAHO/WHO regional NID programs, Comprehensive Family Immunization (IM), Integrated Child Health,
and the PAHO Strategic Fund; a group from the Regional Water and Sanitation Technical Team (ETRAS);
advisors from the PAHO/WHO Communicable Diseases and Health Analysis Department from some of the
participating countries; a delegate from the WHO Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases;
and representatives of UNICEF, the Foundation Against Hunger (FH), Children Without Worms (CWW),
INMED Partnerships for Children, INMED Andes, McGill University Montreal (Canada), Johnson & Johnson,
the Healthy World Foundation, and Operation Blessing International. The Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) is grateful to the United
States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Canadian Government’s Global Affairs
Department for their support in organizing this Regional Meeting.
Subject
Category of PAHO Strategic Plan 2014-2019
Citation
Pan American Health Organization. Regional Meeting to boost efforts for the control of soil-transmitted Helminth infections (geohelminthiasis) in the Americas. (Lima, 1-3 August 2016). Washington, D.C.: PAHO; 2017
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of Deworming Activities: A Contribution to the Control of Soil-Transmitted
Pan American Health Organization (Washington, D.C, PAHO, 2015)[Introduction] Of the diseases that affect human beings, the group made up of neglected infectious diseases (NID) is prominent on the unfinished health agenda because of their causes and consequences. These diseases, ... -
An Integrated Approach to Trachoma, other Neglected Infectious Diseases, and Eye Diseases that Can Cause Blindness in Remote Amazon Populations. Meeting Report (Panama City, 21-22 October 2019)
Pan American Health Organization; Communicable Diseases and Environmental Determinants of Health (CDE) (Washington, D.C., PAHO, 2020-07-23)In 2018, an estimated five million people in the Region of the Americas lived in areas where trachoma is a public health problem, mainly in Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, and Peru. In an effort to establish the situation of ... -
Tools for monitoring the coverage of integrated public health interventions. Vaccination and deworming of soil-transmitted helminthiasis
Pan American Health Organization (Washington, D.C, PAHO, 2017-12)To improve the well-being of the population and bridge gaps in health service delivery, it is necessary to guarantee access to various health interventions, including proven strategies such as vaccination and deworming.1 ...