PURPOSE: The World Health Organization established April 14th as World Chagas Disease Day and called for equitable access to health care and services for everyone affected by the disease. It was first held on April 14, 2020, following approval and endorsement by the World Health Assembly at WHO in May 2019. The day aims to raise awareness of the reality of people living with Chagas and its consequences, in order to achieve the goal set by WHO member countries by 2030, as stated in the Roadmap for Neglected Diseases: Elimination of Chagas as a public health problem.
FORUM: ‘‘Early diagnosis, treatment and follow-up.“ World Chagas Disease 2024. The slogan this year aims to raise awareness among patients, their families and health workers about the need for early (timely) diagnosis and lifelong follow-up of people affected by the disease. In many countries, there are low detection rates (<10%, frequently <1%) and frequent barriers to access adequate healthcare. Chagas disease is prevalent among poor populations of continental Latin America but is increasingly being detected in other countries and continents. It is often termed as a “silent and silenced disease” as the majority of infected people have no symptoms or very mild symptoms. There are approximately 6-7 million people infected with Chagas disease worldwide, with 10,000 deaths, every year. Follow the conversations with the hashtags: #14April, #WorldChagasDiseaseDay,
EVENTS: The WHO and the PAHO will hold an online event to mark the World Chagas Disease 2024 under the slogan ‘‘Early diagnosis, treatment and follow-up.“ the events will seek to give visibility and attention to Chagas and raise the level of awareness in everyone about the importance of improving early detection, expanding diagnostic coverage and equitable access to clinical care for the disease.
WEBINARS: On April 10th, 2024, starting at 11:00 am. – US Eastern Time; 12:00 pm. - Argentina 10:00 am. - Colombia; 09:00 a.m. – Mexico and Central America. You are invited to participate to the virtual event entitled ''Chagas exists and we can eliminate it.", this conversation with people from different sectors, whose contributions and perspectives will seek to enrich and exchange the perceptions and concepts of this problem, beyond the biomedical approach. We will have representatives from the world of cinema, anthropology, journalism and medicine. Join us and help us broaden and expand awareness about this disease to detect it early and give the comprehensive care that affected people need. The webinar will be streamed by the PAHO. Watch the webinar!
STATEMENTS: Read the Message from the WHO Director General on World Chagas Diseases Day 2024; April 14th and the Statement of the PAHO Regional Director on behalf World Chagas Disease Day 2024; April 14.
PODCASTS: It is important to share the Information, education and communication initiatives to defeat Chagas disease. The Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR), is a global programme of scientific collaboration that helps facilitate, support and influence efforts to combat diseases of poverty. Listen to the audio-podcasts!
CAMPAIGN MATERIALS: At present, people living in 44 countries across the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania have been diagnosed with Chagas. Let’s help patients to get diagnosis, treatment free or charge and revitalize our commitment to eradicate the disease by 2030. Get the campaign materials!
WHY WE CELEBRATE THE DAY?
People living in an area extending from the southern United States to southern Argentina are exposed to this parasite. A quarter of the population of Latin America is at risk of contracting Chagas disease. Brazil is the largest endemic country for this parasitic infection, accounting for 40% of disease prevalence. The risk of infection is strongly linked to socio-economic conditions. However, the parasite can also be transmitted by blood transfusions, during pregnancy, and by organ transplants.
We celebrate the World Chagas Disease Day to find the way to eradicate and eliminate the disease. Every year, around 9,000 new cases of T. cruzi infections in Latin American and the Caribbean are estimated to occur because of mother to child transmission. Chagas disease is responsible for productivity losses and estimated annual costs of 1.2 billion USD in Latin America. Several times this sum is spent on medical costs for treating individuals who develop severe heart or gastrointestinal disease. Every year, private and public funds are required for research on neglected parasitic diseases including Chagas disease.
The WHO have pointed to between 6 and 7 million people with the infection, more than 70 million at risk, and more than 12,000 deaths annually. Most of the people affected live in endemic areas of 21 Latin American countries, but there are estimates of very high numbers in other countries with close and migration links, such as the United States and Spain. The PAHO seeks to end more than 30 diseases and conditions by 2030. Join the “Disease Elimination Initiative: Towards Healthier Generations.”!
We thanks health institutions, universities, Medical research centres, organizations and foundations for their prompt support.
ACTIONS
Aside from vector control through insecticides, there are no means of controlling Chagas disease, no effective treatment for chronic forms, and no vaccine.
The Key strategies to prevent Chagas disease include vector control (in Latin America); blood screening prior transfusion and transplantation; testing and treating girls, women of reproductive age, newborns and siblings of mothers with infection; and information, education and communication for communities and health professionals.
Raising awareness of the disease is essential to improve the rates of early treatment and cure, together with the interruption of its transmission.
Most patients, either in the acute and chronic phase, present no symptoms and detection and follow-up can actually be done at primary healthcare level.
The first level of care (primary healthcare) is very different in different countries or territories, but all health professionals working there (physicians, nurses, nursing technician, social workers, community health workers, lab technicians…) can be equally important, from case detection to follow-up, going through treatment and prevention of transmission, disease and complications.
By sharing our experience, knowledge and capacity for action—we hope to achieve the goal of alleviating the human suffering caused by Chagas disease and, ultimately, controlling the disease once and for all.
The DNDi (Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative) set up in 2003 to tackle neglected diseases such as Chagas disease includes the Institut Pasteur, the Indian Council of Medical Research (India), the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Brazil), the Kenya Medical Research Institute, the Médecins Sans Frontières, and the Malaysian Ministry of Health. These partners collaborate closely with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the World Bank, and the WHO Special Program for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (WHO/TDR) on researching new drugs.
PARTNERSHIPS
The proposal for a World Chagas Disease Day; 14 April was instituted by the PAHO/WHO; The International Federation of Associations of People Affected by Chaga's disease, the Chagas Disease Coalition the Pan American Foot-and-Mouth Disease and Veterinary Public Health Center - PANAFTOSA, the Latin American Center of Perinatology, Women and Reproductive Health - CLAP/WR and supported by the PAHO/WHO Representative in Venezuela; the PAHO/WHO Representative in Uruguay, the PAHO/WHO Deputy Director in United States of America, the PAHO/WHO Representative in the Bahamas (and Turks & Caicos), the PAHO/WHO Representative in Trinidad & Tobago, the PAHO/WHO Representative in Suriname, the PAHO/WHO Representative in Trinidad & Tobago, the PAHO/WHO Representative in the office for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean Countries, the Coordinación de la OPS/OMS en Puerto Rico, the PAHO/WHO Representative in Peru, the PAHO/WHO Representative in Paraguay, the PAHO/WHO Representative in Panamá, the PAHO/WHO Interim Representative in Nicaragua, the PAHO/WHO Representative in Mexico, the PAHO/WHO Representative in Jamaica, the PAHO/WHO Representative in Honduras, the PAHO/WHO Representative in Haití, the PAHO/WHO Representative in Guyana, the PAHO/WHO Representative in Guatemala, the PAHO/WHO Representative in El Salvador, the PAHO/WHO Representative in Ecuador, the PAHO/WHO Representative in Dominican Republic, the PAHO/WHO Representative in Trinidad & Tobago, the PAHO/WHO Representative in Cuba, the PAHO/WHO Representative in Costa Rica, the PAHO/WHO Representative in Colombia, the PAHO/WHO Representative in Chile, the PAHO/WHO Representative in Brazil, the PAHO/WHO Representative in Bolivia, the Director, Latin American and Caribbean Center on Health Science Information, the PAHO/WHO Representative in Belize, the PAHO/WHO Representative in the Bahamas (and Turks & Caicos), the PAHO/WHO Representative in Trinidad & Tobago, and the PAHO/WHO Representative in Argentina.
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