J GYAPONG, UNIVERSITY OF GHANA, FILARIASIS ELIMINATION IN AFRICA: REFINING THE STRATEGIES THROUGH RESEARCH

在过去10年中，我在疾病干预规划管理、开展业务研究以及与国际伙伴成功开展合作倡议方面的记录显示了强大的领导能力。我具备成功开展拟议工作所需的专业知识、领导能力和积极性。我在被忽视的热带病的分布和控制方面有广泛的背景，并在开展象皮病或淋巴丝虫病研究方面受过专门培训和专业知识。以腿和阴囊肿大为特征的象皮病的目标是到2020年在81个国家通过社区治疗或大规模给药（MDA）消除象皮病。许多需要治疗的流行国家实施了大规模预防用药。在非洲，38个流行国家中有14个有有效的规划。作为非洲首批方案之一，于2000年开始实施的加纳低成本方案取得了若干成功，同时也面临着挑战。这种疾病在全国大约一半的地区流行。这使大约1000万人面临感染风险。国家低成本方案的目标与全球目标一致。由于受影响的地区超过60个，这是一个很好的机会，可以通过业务研究解决方案的挑战，其结果对非洲有广泛影响。这里提出的研究将解决与改善卫生服务提供有关的挑战，以在资源有限的情况下扩大MDA的规模和影响评估。它将为城市环境中以社区为导向的淋巴丝虫病治疗策略制定新方法，并制定有助于阻断淋巴丝虫病传播的标准和干预措施。我们的目标是：1。改善治疗覆盖面，重点关注影响社区治疗依从性的社会和行为因素，并了解城市人口接受这些干预措施的动态。开发创新方法，改进从社区到国家一级的报告，利用移动电话平台作为加强卫生系统的一种手段。3. 3 .核实没有暴露、何时停止大规模给药（MDA）以及在MDA后进行有效监测以防止疾病再次出现。研究病媒控制对消灭LF的额外益处，特别是在仅使用MDA无法有效降低人类感染率的地区。记录与其他被忽视的热带病的综合控制对消除慢性脊髓炎和卫生系统的影响。6. 在加纳公共卫生学院发展调查方法和社会科学领域的研究能力。

My track record, over the past 10 years in the management of disease intervention programmes, conducting operational research, and successful collaborative initiatives with international partners demonstrate strong leadership capabilities. I have the expertise, leadership and motivation necessary to successfully carry out the proposed work. I have a broad background in distribution and control of neglected tropical diseases, with specific training and expertise in conducting research on elephantiasis or lymphatic filariasis. Elephantiasis, characterised by enlarged legs and scrota, is targeted for elimination in 81 countries by 2020 through community-wide treatment or mass drug administration (MDA). Many endemic countries requiring treatment have implemented MDA. In Africa 14 out of 38 endemic countries have effective programmes. The Ghana LF programme which was initiated in the year 2000 as one of the first in Africa has had several successes as well as challenges. LF is endemic in about half of the country. This places approximately 10 million people at risk of infection. The objectives of the national LF programme are in line with the global objectives. With over 60 districts affected, this presents as good an opportunity for addressing the challenges of the programme through operational research with Africa wide implications for the findings. Research proposed here will address challenges related to improving health service delivery to augment MDA scale-up and impact assessment in resource constrained settings. It will develop novel approaches to the community-directed treatment strategy for lymphatic filariasis in urban settings and the criteria and interventions that facilitate interruption of LF transmission. We will aim at: 1. Improving treatment coverage focusing on social and behavioural factors affecting community treatment compliance and understanding the dynamics of urban populations in uptake of these interventions.2. Developing innovative ways of improving reporting from the community through to the national level using mobile telephony platforms for reporting as a means of strengthen the health system. 3. Verifying absence of exposure, when to stop mass drug administration (MDA) and effective post-MDA surveillance to prevent re-emergence of the disease.4. Studying the added benefit of vector control on LF elimination especially in areas where reduction in infection rates in humans has been ineffective with MDA only5. Documenting the effect of integrated control with other neglected tropical diseases on the elimination of LF and the health system. 6. Developing research capacity in the field of survey methods and the social sciences at the Ghana School of Public Health.