Webinar: Launching Microplanning manual to guide implementation of preventive chemotherapy to control and eliminate Neglected Infectious Diseases

Date: March 21st, 2023 Time: 8:30 – 10:30 am. (EST)

Platform: Zoom

Simultaneous translation into English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese.

Concept Note and Agenda

Preventive Chemotherapy (PC) is a recommended intervention for the control and elimination of several neglected tropical diseases (called “Neglected Infectious Diseases (NIDs)” in the America Region); It involves the regular administration of safe and effective drugs to a defined population, regardless of their infection status. Effective administration of PC relies heavily on operational planning that addresses the need for programs to reach all eligible individuals and maximize community demand for the intervention. Local planning from the bottom up ("micro-planning") fosters the effective implementation and monitoring of public health programs.

Microplanning was originally developed by public health agents for use in vaccination campaigns, but it is now used by various programs, including NID control and elimination programs. This manual is based on these and other country experiences in microplanning for NID chemoprophylactic treatment. It describes the basic concepts of microplanning and the steps to follow and provides examples of tools for formulating and executing a microplan.

Objectives

To present the manual and describe its primary function.
To highlight the present related tools for facilitating use of this framework (NTD indicator compendium, dashboards, country profiles, tracker, One WHO Data Hub/NTD data online: GHO, databases);

Participants

Country teams from America Region that have been implementing Mass Drug Administration (MDA) to eliminate Neglected Infectious Diseases (NIDs):
a. Delegates from ministries of health including NID programs and other programs supporting PC activities (e.g., immunizations, malaria, etc.); ministries of education and other institutions or organizations participating in planning and implementation of PC;
b. Subnational teams from NID endemic areas where PC is being implemented
Partners including those that developed the manual: WHO, USAID, RTI, CDC, FHI.
Other partners: Task force for Global Health, Fred Hollows Foundation, Izumi Foundation, Global Affairs Canada (GAC)
Delegates from PAHO NID regional Program and NID focal points from country offices.

Panelists

Tara Brant, CDC
Ana Morice, PAHO
Dr. Annastacia Sampson (Guyana)
Eurica Denis (Haiti)
Faraja S. Lyamuya (Tanzania)
Rob Henry, USAID
Upendo Mwingira, RTI

A - Key Questions

Date: March 21, 2023

Time: 8:30- 10:00 hours, Eastern Day Time (EDT)

Agenda

8:30-8:35 am Instructions about the ZOOM platform (5 min) - PAHO
8:35-8:40 am Introductory remarks (5 min) - PAHO and WHO
8:40-8:50 am Overview of the manual (10 min) - Denise MUPFASONI, WHO
8:50-9:00 am Guyana experience (10 min)
Annastacia Sampson, Guyana
9:00-9:10 am Haiti experience (10 min) - Eurica Denis, Haiti
9:10-9:20 am Tanzania experience (10 min) - Faraja S. Lyamuya, Tanzania
9:20-9:50 am Panel discussion (15 min) and Q&A (15min) - Plenary
9:50-10:00 am Concluding remarks (10 min) - PAHO and WHO