Annual Report 2008 - 2009 - Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine

DISEASE CONTROL
STRATEGY GROUP
CENTRE FOR NEGLECTED TROPICAL
DISEASES
With the focus shifting to integrated strategies
and intersectoral approaches to disease
control, CNTD now promotes an integrated
approach to the control of neglected tropical
diseases (NTDs). Integration of disease-specific
intervention strategies into health care delivery
systems is a challenge for many resource
constrained countries affected by multiple
parasitic and bacterial infections. Over 1 billion
people living on less than US$2 per day suffer
from two or more NTDs that can be effectively
controlled for as little as 10 cents per person.
New low-cost tools and effective control
strategies are now available for many NTDs
and there has been a seismic shift in terms of
resources devoted to tackling these diseases.
Following the announcement of a £50m
investment in September 2008 by the UK
International Development Secretary, Douglas
Alexander, to “wipe out deadly tropical
diseases”, the Department for International
Development (DFID) approached the Centre
to present a proposal for additional support
for scaling up mass drug administration (MDA)
implementation to eliminate lymphatic filariasis
and other NTDs. This resulted in a Project
Memorandum for increased support for MDA
implementation in the four countries currently
receiving support (Burkina Faso, Ghana,
Tanzania and Bangladesh) and eight additional
countries (Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC),
Ethiopia, Guinea, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique
and Zambia in Africa, and Nepal in Asia). Also
included in the Project Memorandum is PhD
training and support for laboratory capacity
strengthening in Ghana, Egypt, Kenya, Malawi,
Sierra Leone and Sri Lanka.
Relocation in February 2009 into the main
LSTM buildings, closer to central administration
and research laboratories significantly
improved the Centre’s intellectual and research
capabilities, which enabled the Centre’s new
Director, Professor Moses Bockarie, to start
work immediately, developing collaborative
partnerships with colleagues in LSTM working
on different NTDs. In April 2009, Professor
Bockarie and Dr Phillip McCall from the Vector
Group led an NTD expedition to Sierra Leone
accompanying four Biology and Control of
Parasites & Disease Vectors Masters students –
Simon Jackson, James Pritchard, Anna Wamsley
and Nsa Dada – to undertake their projects.
MSc student Simon Jackson (left)
Their mission was to identify the mosquitoes
responsible for transmission of the parasites
that cause LF and to determine the prevalence
of certain other NTDs.
Two of the students, Nsa Dada (The prevalence
and intensity of soil transmitted helminths in
Sierra Leone) and Anna Wamsley (Schistosoma
mansoni infection prevalence and intensity
among school children in Sierra Leone) passed
with distinction. A further academic success was
recorded when Khalfan Mohamed, the Zanzibar
Programme Manager, supervised by Professor
DR IMELDA BATES MBBS MD MA FRCP FRCPath
HEAD OF DISEASE CONTROL STRATEGY GROUP
READER IN TROPICAL HAEMATOLOGY
Imelda is a Reader in Tropical Haematology and a Consultant Haematologist.
She is a Fellow of both the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of
Pathologists. Imelda’s research interests include public health aspects of anaemia
and blood transfusion systems, capacity building and the relationship between
infections, such as malaria, and lymphomas.
LSTM ANNUAL REPORT 15