World Chagas Day calls for primary healthcare to track ‘silent’ disease

“UNITAID calls on the international health community and governments to makes Chagas disease a priority and support ongoing efforts to prevent mother-to-child transmission and improving access to tests and treatments,” said Herve Verhoosel, UNITAID’s head of communications.

“Together, by integrating it into primary health care and screening mothers and babies in the system, we can make Chagas a disease of the past,” he said, adding that the international day is aimed at raising awareness.

First commemorated in 2020, this year’s theme, “Time to integrate Chagas disease into primary health care”, expressed a call to action to fight the spread of the disease, which affects up to 7 million people worldwide.

Lived by ‘kissing bugs’

“If not detected early, Chagas can cause serious problems in the heart and digestive systems and can even be fatal,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, adding that most of those affected are from low-income areas with limited health care. treatment.

However, the Most people who are infected have no symptoms or mild symptoms that can go undetected for as long as decades, UNITAID said. Chagas can cause heart disease, neurological, and digestive problems if left untreated, Mr. Verhoosel said.

As such, it is Often called “the silent disease or the silent one”that makes it important to have advice to increase the rates of early treatment and recovery, he said.

Almost every continent affected

First noticed in rural areas, the disease has now moved to urban settings 44 countries letter of every continent, apart from Antarctica. About 75 million people live in the areas of exposureputting them at risk of infection, UNITAID said.

Attendance rates are often very low in many countries; only About 10 percent of people with the disease receive a diagnosis and 1 percent received effective treatment.

“Inside Latin Americawhere you are in 21 countries, Chagas disease is the leading cause of death from a parasitein the presence of malaria,” said Mr. Verhoosel.

To combat Chagas disease, it is important that it is integrated into primary health care and that such services reach the people who need them, UNITAID said. Cross-sectional approaches are also neededincluding universal health coverage, vector control, and access to testing and treatment.

Prevention efforts

In collaboration with local and global health partners, UNITAID is working to prevent mother-to-child transmission and to increase access to affordable tests and treatments, UNITAID said. Through projects such as CUIDA Chagas and its partnership with the Pan American Health OrganizationUNITAID seeks to identify better, shorter ways to test and treat Chagas diseaseand advance the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of this neglected disease, the agency said.

The CUIDA Chagas project is a feature successful international initiative focuses on testing, treating, and monitoring people with Chagas disease in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, and Paraguay. Through a method that combines implementation and innovation, local assurance and market transactions, CUIDA Chagas seeks to contribute to the elimination of vertical transmission of disease.

Learn more about Chagas disease here.