Guinea eliminates human African trypanosomiasis as a public well being downside

The World Health Organization (WHO) congratulates Guinea for eliminating the gambiense type of human African trypanosomiasis as a public well being downside. This type of human African trypanosomiasis, the one sort transmitted in Guinea, is the primary uncared for tropical illness to be eradicated within the nation. The information marks an vital achievement on this public well being subject on the eve of the world Neglected Tropical Diseases Day, marked on 30 January.

“Today’s announcement is both a testament to the global progress against neglected tropical diseases and a beacon of hope for nations still battling human African trypanosomiasis,” mentioned Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.

Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), or sleeping illness, is a vector-borne parasitic illness brought on by contaminated tsetse flies. Symptoms embrace fever, complications, joint ache and, in superior phases, neurological signs like confusion, disrupted sleep patterns and behavioural adjustments.

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In the Nineteen Nineties, HAT resurged alongside Guinea’s coast as a consequence of elevated human exercise in mangroves, pushed by Conakry’s financial and inhabitants development. In response to the important menace posed by HAT, Guinea’s Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene established the National Programme for the Control of HAT in 2002, with assist from WHO and the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), and later from companions such because the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative and the Institut Pasteur de Guinée. The programme started with mass medical screenings to diagnose and deal with instances successfully, marking an important step in controlling the illness.

The programme launched vector management interventions in 2012 aiming to interrupt contact between individuals and tsetse flies. Initially carried out within the Boffa-East space, this technique expanded nationwide by 2016, with almost 15 000 impregnated mini-screens (with pesticides to draw and kill the tsetse flies) deployed yearly.

However, Guinea confronted important challenges in its HAT elimination efforts throughout the Ebola outbreak and COVID-19. From 2013 to 2015, the Ebola epidemic brought about a suspension of medical actions, resulting in a resurgence in HAT instances. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic posed additional disruptions, however the programme tailored by implementing door-to-door HAT screening to keep up management efforts.

Collaboration with native communities performed a important function all through these years, guaranteeing that interventions had been culturally acceptable and extensively supported. Advances in diagnostic methods, therapy supply, and constant monetary and technical backing from WHO and different companions bolstered the programme’s affect. As a consequence, Guinea efficiently lowered the variety of HAT instances to beneath the WHO threshold of 1 case per 10 000 inhabitants in all endemic areas, reaching a serious milestone in its combat towards this uncared for tropical illness.

“The elimination of sleeping sickness is the result of many years of effort by the Guinean government, its partners and communities in the overall context of the national policy to combat all neglected tropical diseases,” mentioned Dr Oumar Diouhé BAH, Guinea’s Minister of Health and Public Hygiene.

“The elimination of human African trypanosomiasis by Guinea is a significant public health achievement. Vulnerable families and communities can now live free of the threat posed by this potentially fatal disease,” mentioned Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa. “I congratulate the government, health workers, partners and communities for this crucial milestone. “WHO remains committed to supporting countries to eliminate human African trypanosomiasis and other neglected tropical diseases in Africa.”

With Guinea, seven different international locations have been validated by WHO for eliminating the gambiense type of human African trypanosomiasis: Togo (2020), Benin (2021), Côte d’Ivoire (2021), Uganda (2022), Equatorial Guinea (2022), Ghana (2023) and Chad (2024). The rhodesiense type of the illness has been eradicated as a public well being downside in a single nation, Rwanda, as validated by WHO in 2022.

Note to the editor

Human African trypanosomiasis, also called sleeping illness is a vector-borne parasitic illness brought on by an infection with protozoan parasites belonging to the genus Trypanosoma. These parasites are handed to people by the chew of contaminated tsetse flies, which purchase the an infection from people or animals carrying the pathogenic parasites. There are two types of the illness: one brought on by Trypanosoma brucei gambiense, present in 24 international locations in West and Central Africa and which accounts for greater than 92% of instances; and one other brought on by Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense, present in 13 international locations in East and Southern Africa accounting for the remaining instances.

The essential approaches to controlling sleeping illness embrace lowering the reservoirs of an infection and lowering the presence of the tsetse fly. Screening of individuals in danger helps determine sufferers earlier within the illness improvement. If prognosis is made early, it’s doable to keep away from sophisticated and dangerous therapy procedures throughout the superior stage, and to enhance the treatment prognosis.

Sourced from WHO