Regional Meeting to boost efforts for the control of soil-transmitted Helminth infections (geohelminthiasis) in the Americas. (Lima, 1-3 August 2016)

Neglected infectious diseases (NIDs) mainly affect populations facing certain social determinants including poverty, low educational levels, poor housing, and limited access to clean drinking water, basic sanitation, and health services. Soil-transmitted helminthiasis (STH), or geohelminthiasis, is one of the most common neglected infectious diseases. Soil-transmitted helminths have a chronic impact on health and development, and the cause of infection is often undetected. While it is highly unusual for STH to cause direct mortality, infections nevertheless cause considerable morbidity, with effects that are difficult to quantify in view of the long duration of the infection (often over many years) and the presence of concurrent ailments and other factors, such as poverty and malnutrition. In order to design and implement large-scale deworming programs, it is essential to precisely determine the scale of comorbidity linked to soil-transmitted helminthiasis and the burden of disease. In 2014, there were 102 endemic countries worldwide with populations at risk of infection, including approximately 600 million school-age children, of whom 270 million had received treatment (45% coverage); 266 million preschool-age children, of whom 170 million had received treatment (51% coverage); and 250 million women of childbearing age.

These three groups are considered at high risk because they are at an important stage of physical and nutritional development. In the same year (2014), the populations in 25 countries of the Americas were at risk of STH, including around 47 million children aged 1 to 14 (33.7 million school-age and 13.3 million preschoolage)...This Regional Meeting was attended by delegates from the health ministries of 15 countries; advisors from PAHO/WHO regional NID programs, Comprehensive Family Immunization (IM), Integrated Child Health, and the PAHO Strategic Fund; a group from the Regional Water and Sanitation Technical Team (ETRAS); advisors from the PAHO/WHO Communicable Diseases and Health Analysis Department from some of the participating countries; a delegate from the WHO Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases; and representatives of UNICEF, the Foundation Against Hunger (FH), Children Without Worms (CWW), INMED Partnerships for Children, INMED Andes, McGill University Montreal (Canada), Johnson & Johnson, the Healthy World Foundation, and Operation Blessing International.

The Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) is grateful to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Canadian Government’s Global Affairs Department for their support in organizing this Regional Meeting.