Transcript
PADMASIRI ESWARA ARATCHIGE: Globally there are 72 endemic countries. About 1.39-billion people are at risk. In the western Pacific region in terms of countries affected, it's fairly huge: 16 countries that are endemic; three have already [unclear]. Now we are looking at other countries getting there in the coming years.
DOMINIC GODFREY: So these 13 remaining nations in the Pacific, are they all involved in the current elimination programme?
PEA: Yes, absolutely. At the beginning I mentioned about a few stages. They do the mapping first.
DG: So the MDA has started in these 13 nations has it?
PEA: Yeah, except in New Caledonia where they still have to verify their endemicity status. Except that, all the other countries have completed mapping and many have done their mass drug administrations but Dominic, the issue is, although the usual number of annual mass drug administration rounds is five years, but the transmitting mosquito in some places are different, they are more efficient. So in such places they had to continue with additional mass drug administration rounds. So this is all the countries, we don't see them finishing at the same time. Some countries will finish early, some will finish a bit late.
DG: Sure, so at this stage, of the 13 remaining nations in the Pacific, how many of them are on track to have filariasis eliminated by 2020?
PEA: I would say all of them. So by 2020 we would get all of them, provided that the mass drug administration becomes successful in the few places where there are still transmission ongoing.
DG: So beyond 2020 when the elimination is in place, assuming that it has worked in all 16 nations, then I guess it's just an ongoing monitoring to make sure that there's a mitigated risk of reintroduction of the parasite?
PEA: Yes, the risk would be fairly low when all countries have done it so this is why we want the whole region achieving it.
DG: And that would be a step towards eventual eradication I'm thinking?
PEA: Yes but not really in the near future.
DG: So lessons learned from this programme, from the mass drug administration, the co-operation between various partners, various stakeholders, there must be lessons learned from this that you can roll out to other neglected tropical diseases in terms of eradication and elimination.
PEA: Yes, this success can be replicated with other diseases and actually we are already this mass drug administration experience in other programmes such as the trachoma elimination.
DG: What are your personal targets in terms of neglected tropical diseases? You mentioned trachoma as well coming up next perhaps, what else are your key at risk neglected tropical diseases that you focus on? Just looking at the Pacific.
PEA: In the Pacific there are other diseases like soil transmitted helminthiasis, the worm infections of the children. Leprosy is also a neglected tropical disease. Dengue. In the Pacific we also have three countries that are still endemic for a disease known as yaws.
