Mass Drug Treatment For Elephantiasis Is Affordable Compared With Other Public Health Programs

Main Category: Tropical Diseases
Article Date: 30 Oct 2007 - 17:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions  

Once-yearly administration of two anti-parasitic drugs to control lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis) costs just $0.06 to $2.23 per person treated, making it comparatively inexpensive, according to a major new international study of treatment costs.

The World Health Organization estimates that 1.307 billion people worldwide in 83 countries are at risk of lymphatic filariasis (LF), a disfiguring parasitic disease caused by thread-like nematode worms. The disability caused by LF keeps affected patients and communities mired in poverty. The disease is potentially eradicable through once-yearly mass drug administration (MDA) of two drugs (albendazole with diethylcarbamazine or albendazole with ivermectin).

Ann Goldman (The George Washington University, School of Public Health and Health Services, USA) and an international team of colleagues studied the costs of MDA for LF control in seven countries (Ghana, The Philippines, Tanzania, Egypt, Burkina Faso, Dominican Republic, and Haiti). The variation in the costs was largely explained by the age (newness) of the MDA program, the use of volunteers, and the size of the population treated.

"The study demonstrates that the costs of MDA programs for LF elimination are comparable to those estimated for other similar disease control and elimination programs," the authors say.

"Such findings can be used on a national scale for program planning, development and fundraising, and on a global scale for calculating current global costs, predicting scale-up costs and calculating savings from integration with other programs."

Citation: Goldman AS, Guisinger VH, Aikins M, Amarillo MLE, Belizario VY, et al. (2007) National Mass Drug Administration Costs for Lymphatic Filariasis Elimination. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 1(1): e67. doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0000067
Please click here

Disclaimer

This press release refers to upcoming articles in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases. The release is provided by journal staff. Any opinions expressed in these releases or articles are the personal views of the journal staff and/or article contributors, and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of PLoS. PLoS expressly disclaims any and all warranties and liability in connection with the information found in the releases and articles and your use of such information.

About PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases

PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases is the first open-access journal devoted to the world's most neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), such as elephantiasis, river blindness, leprosy, hookworm, schistosomiasis, and African sleeping sickness. The journal will publish high-quality, peer-reviewed research on all scientific, medical, and public-health aspects of these forgotten diseases affecting the world's forgotten people. For more information, visit http://www.plosntds.org.

About the Public Library of Science

The Public Library of Science (PLoS) is a non-profit organization of scientists and physicians committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature a freely available public resource.

Public Library of Science
185 Berry Street, Suite 3100
San Francisco, CA 94107
USA

• Additional
• References
• Citations