The theme for World Chagas Disease Day 2023 is Time to integrate Chagas disease into primary health care. 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.
Did you know?
- 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.
- Every year, around 9,000 new cases of T. cruzi infections in the Americas are estimated to occur because of mother to child transmission.
Communication Resources
Webinar
For a childhood free of congenital Chagas disease. How to interrupt mother-to-child transmission
