Efforts To Eliminate Human African Trypanosomiasis See Successes, Challenges, Guardian Reports

The Guardian examines international efforts to eliminate human African trypanosomiasis, commonly known as sleeping sickness, which “remains endemic in 36 sub-Saharan African countries today, putting some 70 million people at risk.” The newspaper continues, “Elimination efforts have seen developments on multiple fronts: a strong health system in place for early identification of clinical signs and symptoms, a referral system, laboratory diagnosis, and effective treatment.” “As the number of cases continues to fall, the elimination of sleeping sickness rests on the ability for control activities to be integrated into wider health systems,” the newspaper writes, noting, “The challenge with integrated service delivery is that it reveals organizational, logistical and technical deficiencies shortcomings.” According to The Guardian, “Elimination will enable this scourge to fall from the top of global health agenda, but ministries of health will need to ensure that resources and training remain available” (Ebikeme, 12/5).

The KFF Daily Global Health Policy Report summarized news and information on global health policy from hundreds of sources, from May 2009 through December 2020. All summaries are archived and available via search.

KFF Headquarters: 185 Berry St., Suite 2000, San Francisco, CA 94107 | Phone 650-854-9400
Washington Offices and Barbara Jordan Conference Center: 1330 G Street, NW, Washington, DC 20005 | Phone 202-347-5270

www.kff.org | Email Alerts: kff.org/email | facebook.com/KFF | twitter.com/kff

The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news, KFF is a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California.