Incorporating qualitative research methods into the monitoring and evaluation of neglected tropical disease programmes: a scoping literature review.
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SUBMITTER: Baker MC
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8643435 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Background: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global public health threat with the potential to cause millions of deaths. There has been a tremendous increase in the use of antimicrobials, stemming from preventive chemotherapy elimination and control programs addressing neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). This study aims to identify the frequency of drug resistance for 11 major NTDs and 20 treatment drugs within a specific period by systematically analyzing the study design, socio-demographic factors, resistance, and countries of relevant studies. Methods: Adhering to PRISMA guidelines, we performed systematic reviews of the major 11 NTDs to identify publications on drug resistance between 2000 and 2016. A quality assessment tool adapted for evaluating observational and experimental studies was applied to assess the quality of eligible studies. Results: One of the major findings is that six NTDs have information on drug resistance, namely human African trypanosomiasis, leishmaniasis, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis, soil-transmitted helminths, and trachoma. Many studies recorded resistance due to diagnostic tests, and few studies indicated clinical resistance. Although most studies were performed in Africa where there is the occurrence of several NTDs, there was no link between disease burden and locations of study. Conclusions: Based on this study we deduce that monitoring and surveillance systems need to be strengthened to enable the early detection of AMR and the mitigation of its global spread.
| S-EPMC6603949 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundThe World Health Organization's (WHO) Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) Road Map for 2021-2030 was recently endorsed by all member states at the World Health Assembly in November 2020. Although only 3 of the 20 NTDs are endemic in Canada (i.e., echinococcosis, rabies, and scabies), the Canadian research community has contributed to advancing the knowledge base of all 20 NTDs. Previous research comprehensively detailed Canadian research on 11 NTDs between 1950 and 2010 using a network analysis approach. The specific objective of the present analysis was to update the publication record over the last decade (2010-2019) to include all 20 NTDs.Materials and methodsA bibliometric analysis was conducted in Scopus and Web of Science databases (for English or French articles published between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2019) using appropriate search terms for each of the 20 NTDs and where at least 1 of the authors had a Canadian institution address. A 21st search was added to include publications including multiple NTDs or a discussion of NTDs in general. Following assessment of inclusion and exclusion criteria, 2 reviewers independently screened all abstracts, with discordant observations rereviewed to arrive at an agreement. Duplicates were removed.ResultsA total of 1,790 publications were retrieved (1,738 with a disease-specific NTD focus and 52 with a general NTD focus, resulting in 1,659 unique publications), giving an average of over 160 articles per year. Over 80% were classified as full-length research articles. The top 3 journals in terms of frequency were PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, PLOS ONE, and the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Authors' institutions were from all Canadian provinces. While all 20 NTDs were addressed in these publications, the 5 most commonly studied were leishmaniasis, dengue fever and chikungunya, Chagas disease, soil-transmitted helminthiases, and rabies.ConclusionsCanadian researchers across the country have contributed to the evidence base of all 20 NTDs, publishing an average of over 160 publications per year between 2010 and 2019. As WHO NTD Road Map 2021-2030 rolls out globally, the Canadian research community, in collaboration with its partners and in solidarity with people living in vulnerable circumstances in endemic regions worldwide, is well positioned to meet future research challenges so that the goal of eliminating the disease burden attributable to NTDs can be achieved.
| S-EPMC8248598 | biostudies-literature
Project description:To explore the effects of climate change on malaria and 20 neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), and potential effect amelioration through mitigation and adaptation, we searched for papers published from January 2010 to October 2023. We descriptively synthesised extracted data. We analysed numbers of papers meeting our inclusion criteria by country and national disease burden, healthcare access and quality index (HAQI), as well as by climate vulnerability score. From 42 693 retrieved records, 1543 full-text papers were assessed. Of 511 papers meeting the inclusion criteria, 185 studied malaria, 181 dengue and chikungunya and 53 leishmaniasis; other NTDs were relatively understudied. Mitigation was considered in 174 papers (34%) and adaption strategies in 24 (5%). Amplitude and direction of effects of climate change on malaria and NTDs are likely to vary by disease and location, be non-linear and evolve over time. Available analyses do not allow confident prediction of the overall global impact of climate change on these diseases. For dengue and chikungunya and the group of non-vector-borne NTDs, the literature privileged consideration of current low-burden countries with a high HAQI. No leishmaniasis papers considered outcomes in East Africa. Comprehensive, collaborative and standardised modelling efforts are needed to better understand how climate change will directly and indirectly affect malaria and NTDs.
| S-EPMC11367761 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The early termination of the Accelerating the Sustainable Control and Elimination of Neglected Tropical Diseases (Ascend) programme by the UK government in June 2021 was a bitter blow to countries in East and West Africa where no alternative source of funding existed. Here we assess the potential impact the cuts may have had if alternative funding had not been made available by new development partners and outline new strategies developed by affected countries to mitigate current and future disruptions to neglected tropical disease control programmes.
| S-EPMC9977241 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundNeglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) affect more than one billion people globally. A Public Library of Science (PLOS) journal dedicated to NTDs lists almost forty NTDs, while the WHO prioritises twenty NTDs. A person can be affected by more than one disease at the same time from a range of infectious and non-infectious agents. Many of these diseases are preventable, and could be eliminated with various public health, health promotion and medical interventions. This scoping review aims to determine the extent of the body of literature on NTD interventions and health promotion activities, and to provide an overview of their focus while providing recommendations for best practice going forward. This scoping review includes both the identification of relevant articles through the snowball method and an electronic database using key search terms. A two-phased screening process was used to assess the relevance of studies identified in the search-an initial screening review followed by data characterization using the Critical Appraisal Skills Program (CASP). Studies were eligible for inclusion if they broadly described the characteristics, methods, and approaches of (1) NTD interventions and/or (2) community health promotion.Principal findings90 articles met the CASP criteria partially or fully and then underwent a qualitative synthesis to be included in the review. 75 articles specifically focus on NTD interventions and approaches to their control, treatment, and elimination, while 15 focus specifically on health promotion and provide a grounding in health promotion theories and perspectives. 29 of the articles provided a global perspective to control, treatment, or elimination of NTDs through policy briefs or literature reviews. 19 of the articles focused on providing strategies for NTDs more generally while 12 addressed multiple NTDs or their interaction with other infectious diseases. Of the 20 NTDs categorized by the WHO and the expanded NTD list identified by PLOS NTDs, several NTDs did not appear in the database search on NTD interventions and health promotion, including yaws, fascioliasis, and chromoblastomycosis.ConclusionsBased on the literature we have identified the four core components of best practices including programmatic interventions, multi sectoral and multi-level interventions, adopting a social and ecological model and clearly defining 'community.' NTD interventions tend to centre on mass drug administration (MDA), particularly because NTDs were branded as such based on their being amenable to MDA. However, there remains a need for intervention approaches that also include multiple strategies that inform a larger multi-disease and multi-sectoral programme. Many NTD strategies include a focus on WASH and should also incorporate the social and ecological determinants of NTDs, suggesting a preventative and systems approach to health, not just a treatment-based approach. Developing strong communities and incorporating social rehabilitation at the sublocation level (e.g. hospital) could benefit several NTDs and infectious diseases through a multi-disease, multi-sectoral, and multi-lateral approach. Finally, it is important the 'community' is clearly defined in each intervention, and that community members are included in intervention activities and viewed as assets to interventions.
| S-EPMC8321407 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Little attention has been paid to neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) in high-income countries and no literature provides an overview of NTDs in Japan. This scoping review aims to synthesize the latest evidence and information to understand epidemiology of and public health response to NTDs in Japan. Using three academic databases, we retrieved articles that mentioned NTDs in Japan, written in English or Japanese, and published between 2010 and 2020. Websites of key public health institutions and medical societies were also explored. From these sources of information, we extracted data that were relevant to answering our research questions. Our findings revealed the transmission of alveolar echinococcosis, Buruli ulcer, Chagas disease, dengue, foodborne trematodiases, mycetoma, scabies, and soil-transmitted helminthiasis as well as occurrence of snakebites within Japan. Other NTDs, such as chikungunya, cystic echinococcosis, cysticercosis, leishmaniasis, leprosy, lymphatic filariasis, rabies, and schistosomiasis, have been imported into the country. Government agencies tend to organize surveillance and control programs only for the NTDs targeted by the Infectious Disease Control Law, namely, echinococcosis, rabies, dengue, and chikungunya. At least one laboratory offers diagnostic testing for each NTD except for dracunculiasis, human African trypanosomiasis, onchocerciasis, and yaws. No medicine is approved for treatment of Chagas disease and fascioliasis and only off-label use drugs are available for cysticercosis, opisthorchiasis, human African trypanosomiasis, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis, and yaws. Based on these findings, we developed disease-specific recommendations. In addition, three policy issues are discussed, such as lack of legal frameworks to organize responses to some NTDs, overreliance on researchers to procure some NTD products, and unaffordability of unapproved NTD medicines. Japan should recognize the presence of NTDs within the country and need to address them as a national effort. The implications of our findings extend beyond Japan, emphasizing the need to study, recognize, and address NTDs even in high-income countries.
| S-EPMC10786391 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundNigeria carries the highest burden and diversity of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) in sub-Saharan Africa and is preparing to scale up its efforts to control/eliminate these diseases. To achieve this it will require a range of internal technical support and expertise for mapping, monitoring and evaluating, operational research and documenting its success. In order to begin to evaluate this potential in Nigeria, this study collated and analysed information for lymphatic filariasis (LF), onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminths (STH), which are currently being targeted with preventive chemotherapy through mass drug administration (MDA).Methodology/principal findingsInformation from 299 scientific articles published on the selected NTDs in 179 journals between January 2008 and September 2013 was extracted and systematically compiled into a geo-referenced database for analysis and mapping. The highest number of articles was from the southern geo-political zones of the country. The majority of articles focused on one specific disease, and schistosomiasis and STH were found to have the highest and most wide ranging research output. The main type of study was parasitological, and the least was biotechnological. Nigerian authors were mostly affiliated with universities, and there was a wide range of international co-authors from Africa and other regions, especially the USA and UK. The majority of articles were published in journals with no known impact factor.Conclusions/significanceThe extensive database and series of maps on the research capacity within Nigeria produced in this study highlights the current potential that exists, and needs to be fully maximized for the control/elimination of NTDs in the country. This study provides an important model approach that can be applied to other low and middle income countries where NTDs are endemic, and NTD programmes require support from the expertise within their own country, as well as internationally, to help raise their profile and importance.
| S-EPMC4133230 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND:Schistosomiasis and infection by soil-transmitted helminths are some of the world's most prevalent neglected tropical diseases. Infection by more than one parasite (co-infection) is common and can contribute to clinical morbidity in children. Geostatistical analyses of parasite infection data are key for developing mass drug administration strategies, yet most methods ignore co-infections when estimating risk. Infection status for multiple parasites can act as a useful proxy for data-poor individual-level or environmental risk factors while avoiding regression dilution bias. Conditional random fields (CRF) is a multivariate graphical network method that opens new doors in parasite risk mapping by (i) predicting co-infections with high accuracy; (ii) isolating associations among parasites; and (iii) quantifying how these associations change across landscapes. METHODS:We built a spatial CRF to estimate infection risks for Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura, hookworms (Ancylostoma duodenale and Necator americanus) and Schistosoma mansoni using data from a national survey of Rwandan schoolchildren. We used an ensemble learning approach to generate spatial predictions by simulating from the CRF's posterior distribution with a multivariate boosted regression tree that captured non-linear relationships between predictors and covariance in infection risks. This CRF ensemble was compared against single parasite gradient boosted machines to assess each model's performance and prediction uncertainty. RESULTS:Parasite co-infections were common, with 19.57% of children infected with at least two parasites. The CRF ensemble achieved higher predictive power than single-parasite models by improving estimates of co-infection prevalence at the individual level and classifying schools into World Health Organization treatment categories with greater accuracy. The CRF uncovered important environmental and demographic predictors of parasite infection probabilities. Yet even after capturing demographic and environmental risk factors, the presences or absences of other parasites were strong predictors of individual-level infection risk. Spatial predictions delineated high-risk regions in need of anthelminthic treatment interventions, including areas with higher than expected co-infection prevalence. CONCLUSIONS:Monitoring studies routinely screen for multiple parasites, yet statistical models generally ignore this multivariate data when assessing risk factors and designing treatment guidelines. Multivariate approaches can be instrumental in the global effort to reduce and eventually eliminate neglected helminth infections in developing countries.
| S-EPMC7077138 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundAlthough the practice of communication is often called upon when intervening and involving communities affected by NTDs, the disciplinary framework of health communication research has been largely absent from NTD strategies. To illustrate how practices conceptualized and developed within the communication field have been applied in the context of NTD elimination, we conducted a scoping review focusing on two diseases currently targeted for elimination by the WHO: lymphatic filariasis and Chagas disease.MethodsWe examined studies published between 2012 and 2020 in five electronic databases. Selected articles were required to (i) have explicit references to communication in either the abstract, title, or key words; (ii) further elaborate on the search terms (communication, message, media, participation and health education) in the body of the article; and (iii) sufficiently describe communication actions associated to those terms. Using the C-Change Socio-Ecological Model for Social and Behavior Change Communication as a reference, the articles were analysed to identify communication activities, theoretical frameworks, and/or rationales involved in their design, as well as their intended level of influence (individual, interpersonal, community, or enabling environment).Results and implicationsA total of 43 articles were analysed. Most interventions conceptualized communication as a set of support tools or supplemental activities delivering information and amplifying pre-defined messages aimed at increasing knowledge, encouraging community involvement, promoting individual behavior change, or securing some degree of acceptability of proposed strategies. Although important attempts at further exploring communication capabilities were identified, particularly in participation-based strategies, for most studies, communication consisted of an underdeveloped and under-theorized approach. We contend that a more complex understanding of the capacities offered by the health communication field could help attain the biomedical and social justice goals proposed in NTD elimination strategies. Three ways in which the field of health communication could further enhance NTD efforts are presented: informing interventions with theory-based frameworks, exploring the political complexity of community participation in specific contexts, and identifying conceptualizations of culture implied in interventions' design.ConclusionThis article is a call to action to consider the resources offered by the health communication field when researching, designing, or implementing NTD interventions.
| S-EPMC9595560 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND:Despite the known burden of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) on child health, there is limited information on current efforts to increase pediatric therapeutic options. Our objective was to quantify and characterize research activity and treatment availability for NTDs in children in order to inform the prioritization of future research efforts. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:We conducted a review of the World Health Organization's (WHO) International Clinical Trials Registry Platform to assess research activity for NTDs. The burden of disease of each NTD was measured in terms of disability adjusted life years (DALYs), which was extracted from the Global Health Data Exchange. First- and second-line medications for each NTD were identified from WHO guidelines. We reviewed FDA drug labels for each medication to determine whether they were adequately labeled for use in children. Descriptive statistics, binomial tests, and Spearman's rank order correlations were calculated to assess research activity compared to burden of disease. Children comprised 34% of the 20 million DALYs resulting from NTDs, but pediatric trials contributed just 17% (63/369) of trials studying these conditions (p<0.001 for binomial test). Conditions that were particularly under-represented in pediatric populations compared to adults included rabies, leishmaniasis, scabies, and dengue. Pediatric drug trial activity was poorly correlated with pediatric burden of disease across NTDs (Spearman's rho = 0.41, p = 0.12). There were 47 medications recommended by the WHO for the treatment of NTDs, of which only 47% (n = 22) were adequately labeled for use in children. Of the 25 medications lacking adequate pediatric labeling, three were under study in pediatric trials. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE:There is a substantial gap between the burden of disease for NTDs in children and research devoted to this population. Most medications lack adequate pediatric prescribing information, highlighting the urgency to increase pediatric research activity for NTDs with high burden of disease and limited treatment options.
| S-EPMC6368333 | biostudies-other