 SCI awarded a grant under new USAID–funded Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) Control ProgramSCI has been awarded a grant under the USAID–funded NTD Control Program for programme implementation in Burkina Faso, Niger, and Uganda. The goal of the USAID five year $100 million program is to reduce the collective burden of five neglected tropical diseases lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis), onchocerciasis (river blindness), schistosomiasis (bilharzia, snail fever), soil transmitted helminthes (hookworm, roundworm, whipworm), and trachoma (blinding eye infection) through an integrated treatment program. In addition to SCI, the International Trachoma Institute (ITI) will manage integrated treatment programs in Ghana and Mali. SCI is working with its partners in Burkina Faso, Niger, and Uganda to continue existing treatment programmes, but thanks to the support of the USAID–funded NTD Control Program we are able to expand the scope of our activities into new areas and work to integrate the existing treatment program in each country. For example in Burkina Faso, the Government will begin its efforts to integrate treatment of NTDs in April. More importantly, when the Program launches in June, it will include the country’s first ever treatments for trachoma. In Niger, residents from three regions with a target population of 6 million will receive their first integrated treatments for lymphatic filariasis (LF), schistosomiasis, trachoma, intestinal helminths and onchocerciasis beginning April 19, 2007. This will be the first time people in Niger will be treated for LF. In Uganda, we will begin expanding treatments for trachoma, LF, and schistosomiasis to districts that have to date never received treatment. The Program will be coordinated with the Ministry of Health’s Child Health Days which take place in April and October. The Ministry hopes to provide de-worming treatments to over 11 million children aged from three to fifteen years. The USAID–funded NTD Program is led by RTI International. Other partners include LATH (Liverpool Associates for Tropical Health), SCI, and ITI. |