VICE CHANCELLOR’S OCCASIONAL LECTURE
TOPIC:
“RECENT ADVANCES IN NEGLECTED TROPICAL DISEASES CONTROL”
SPEAKER:
PROFESSOR MOSES BOCKARIE
(DIRECTOR, LIVERPOOL CENTRE FOR NEGLECTED TROPICAL DISEASES, UK)
CHAIRMAN:
PROFESSOR ERNEST ARYEETEY
(VICE CHANCELLOR, UG)
DATE:WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014
VENUE:SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH AUDITORIUM
TIME:10:00AM – 12:00NOON
ALL ARE CORDIALLY INVITED
ABSTRACT
RECENT ADVANCES IN NEGLECTED TROPICAL DISEASES CONTROL
Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) have been aptly described as tropical diseases of neglected people. They affect more than a billion people worldwide and are responsible for acute and chronic morbidity and a significant impediment to socioeconomic development in over 73 middle and low income countries. It has been estimated that controlling NTDs can provide economic benefits in excess of US$22 billion over the next 7 years.
The World Health Organization is presently focusing on 17 NTDs including lymphatic filariasis (LF) which is highly endemic in Ghana. Many advances have been made in tackling NTDs as illustrated in the fight against LF. The Global Programme to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis (GPELF) through the WHO strategy of preventive chemotherapy and transmission control (PCT), has targeted LF for elimination by 2020. PCT is a pro-poor strategy for NTD control that enables regular and coordinated administration of safe, single-dose medications. GPELF is one of the most rapidly expanding global health programs in the history of public health administering more than 540 million treatments in 54 countries in 2012.
The MDA campaign has been most effective in the middle-income economies of Southeast Asia where all 15 endemic countries have initiated MDA. In Africa, only 18 of the 34 endemic countries were implementing MDA in 2012. Many of the communities in countries yet to start MDA for LF elimination are in hard to reach areas in post-conflict environments with poor health systems infrastructure. Nevertheless, PCT presents an excellent platform for integrated control of NTDs where several diseases coexist, given that either or both ivermectin and albendazole used to treat LF are effective against onchocerciasis and other NTDs.
PROFILE
Moses Bockarie, PhD, Professor of Tropical Health Sciences and Director of the Centre for Neglected Tropical Diseases(incorporating the Lymphatic Filariasis Support Centre), Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom.
Prof. Bockarie has an extensive research portfolio which includes malaria and neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) such as lymphatic filariasis and soil-transmitted helminthes.
He holds an MSc and PhD from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. After graduation, he returned to his home country, Sierra Leone, to continue his work as a medical entomologist before moving to the Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research, becoming Principal Research Fellow and Head of the Vector Borne Disease Unit in 1996. In 2005, he joined the Center for Global Health and Diseases at Case Western University as Visiting Professor where he continued his work on NTDs.
He is an internationally experienced researcher. He has undertaken duty travel to 27 countries in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, United States, South America and the Pacific and is a member of the WHO panel of Experts on parasitic infections.
He is a member of several professional societies including the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and has adjunct faculty positions in the University of Papua New Guinea and James Cook University in Queensland, Australia. He serves on the editorial board of the Malaria Journal and is a regular editor and contributor to scientific journals.
