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USAID

USAID's NTD Program
USAID's NTD Program

Integrated Control

USAID’s NTD Program is one of the first global efforts to integrate existing disease-specific treatment programs to control these diseases.

Historically, many of these diseases have been tackled individually, with wide variance in the intensity of control efforts for the different diseases.  While significant progress has been made, many communities with overlapping disease burdens continue to face the detrimental effects of the NTDs. 

Research into the co-management of the diseases has yielded an integrated approach that is safe for communities, is more efficient for governments to manage, and enables greater scale-up of preventive chemotherapy.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has developed technical guidelines for national programs. The guidelines emphasize a coordinated, cost-effective approach to the implementation of national elimination and control activities for the NTDs that can be addressed through mass drug administration.

WHO recommends a strategy of preventive chemotherapy, which targets a group of NTDs and at risk-populations rather than any given specific disease or infected individual, since NTDs tend to occur together in the same geographic cluster. Even when deployed without other complementary interventions such as improved sanitation, vector control, and health promotion, this approach can lead to a significant reduction of morbidity and transmission of these diseases.

USAID is supporting and expanding this integrated approach to achieve higher population coverage and greater cost-efficiencies.

Additional Resources