Report NNN SCH-STH Disease Specific Group meeting - October 2024

The workshop organized by the NTD NGO Network for the Schisto and STH Disease-specific group for 2024 convened on October 2nd, with 65 in-person participants. The session commenced with a welcoming address by the Chair, Cosmas Ndellejong, introducing the steering committee members and underlining the importance of collective efforts in combating neglected tropical diseases with emphasis on SCH and STH. The agenda encompassed updates and discussions on schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis, featuring presentations on pivotal topics such as: .

• Evidence Tracking and Drug Supply in Togo: the presenter highlighted the SCH survey tracker tool for  monitoring survey data for informed MDA decision making, contributing to the establishment of the supply chain M&E framework. However it was  highlighted the country still faces challenges such as lack of clarity of next steps after morbidity control and whether to prioritise MDA or impact surveys. The country is looking towards shifting towards school-based MDA and considering village-level implementation.
• Evidence Tracking and Drug Supply in Uganda:  highlighted that the country utilises the impact surveys, community/participatory based monitoring approach and reverse logistic for evidence tracking and drug supply. However the country still faces challenges in deciding what are the next steps to be taken in areas with less than 1% prevalence, feasibility of implementing more than one strategy in the same district and challenges in treating the adults at risk population. The country is looking forward to enhancing WASH and health education, strengthening data reporting systems, and considering treatment for all at-risk populations.
• The presentation on the new WHO M&E Guidelines for SCH-STH highlighted the overview of the SCH STH M&E framework whose main objectives were to answer the questions on 1. the timing in which to conduct monitoring activities, 2. the indicators to be collected, their calculation and survey methodologies to use and 3. how to interpret the result. The new WHO Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) framework aims to guide SCH/STH control programs towards disease elimination by providing guidance on monitoring activities, indicators, and resource allocation, with an emphasis on flexibility to incorporate new technologies. It was also emphasised that M&E can be achieved in an affordable manner whilst being sufficiently flexible in a country context .
• There was space for members to engage through breakout groups on three key topics within the SCH/STH landscape: 1. Evidence tracking; 2. MDA; 3. Low to very low prevalence strategies.