COR-NTD | Q&A with Maria Rebollo on the WHO/AFRO Mapping Project

12 May 2021

COR-NTD caught up with Maria Rebollo, ESPEN team leader for the World Health Organization Africa and lead author of transformational research, “Baseline Mapping of Neglected Tropical Diseases in Africa: The Accelerated WHO/AFRO Mapping Project”, published in The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. The interview highlights the importance of preventive chemotherapy for NTDs, collaboration in NTD-endemic regions for quality data and energizing and empowering national NTD programs.

The project was designed to complete the endemicity map of NTDs in Africa. It covered 47 countries (the WHO AFRO region) and the five NTDs that have the highest burden in the region and affect the poorest people in the planet: lymphatic filariasis (LF or elephantiasis), onchocerciasis (river blindness), schistosomiasis (SCH), soil transmitted helminthiasis (STH or intestinal worms), and trachoma. These NTDs can be controlled and even eliminated by Preventive Chemotherapy.

Read the full interview - Q&A with Maria Rebollo on the WHO/AFRO Mapping Project

 

WHO Monitoring and Evaluation