Neglected Tropical Diseases in the Central African Region: A Review of their Mass Treatment Coverage

Author(s): Frankline Sevidzem Wirsiy, Denis Ebot Ako-Arrey, Patrick Achiangia Njukeng

Background: The neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are the most common conditions affecting the poorest 600 million people living in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) of which the Central African region is part and parcel, and together produce a burden of disease that may be equivalent to one-half of SSA’s malaria disease burden and more than double that caused by tuberculosis. Establishing specific information on the mass treatment coverage would provide a basis for prioritizing control strategies as a means to address the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The objective of this review was to determine the mass treatment coverage trend resulting from 5 NTDs amenable to mass treatment in the Central African region.

 

Methods: A search on PubMed, ScienceDirect, Uniting to Combat NTDs, Cochrane Library, African Journals Online, MEDLINE, Scopus and Google Scholar with the following Keywords: “Neglected Tropical Diseases”, “Mass Treatment Coverage”, “Control”, “Elimination”, “Lymphatic filariasis”, “Onchocerciasis”, “Schistosomiasis”, “Soil-transmitted helminthiases”, “Trachoma was conducted, with the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), with specific diseases listed as 5 NTDs amenable to mass treatment per Central Africa region country. Studies to assess the mass treatment coverage resulting from 5 NTDs amenable to treatment in Central Africa as the primary outcome variable, were included. Our search was limited to, articles published from the year 2013 to 2018 (A 5 years review) in English and French. The search identified a total of 140 articles amongst which 10 data-based reports and 5 original articles met the inclusion criteria to give a total of 15 papers that were considered.

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