[Ip-health] GSK and Merck joining efforts with Global Alliance to treat & Eradicate Lymphatic Filariasis

[julie.patel@cptech.org]

http://www.filariasis.org/


The Global Alliance to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis welcomes you to our
website and encourages you to discover more about LF. More than 1 billion
people in approximately 80 countries live at risk of contracting lymphatic
filariasis (LF). More commonly known as elephantiasis, LF is a devastating
parasitic infection spread by mosquitoes. Currently over 120 million
people are already infected, with more than 40 million incapacitated or
disfigured by the disease.

The Global Alliance is a public-private partnership created to assist in
advocacy, resource mobilisation, and programme implementation. Created in
2000, it brings together national Ministries of Health, the World Health
Organization, companies within the private sector, international
development agencies and foundations, non-governmental organisations,
research and academic institutions, and local communities. GlaxoSmithKline
and Merck & Co., Inc., have pledged all the albendazole and Mectizan
necessary to achieve elimination - the largest drug donations in history,
valued at more than $1 billion.

No public health programme has ever expanded as quickly as the Global
Programme to Eliminate LF. Annual treatments have jumped rapidly, up from
25 million in 12 countries in 2000 to 122 million in 36 countries in 2003
to over 250 million in 39 countries in 2004. The rapid expansion can be
attributed to several factors, including the generous drug donations and
the fact that governments in endemic regions increasingly view the
programme as a tangible way to address poverty and improve health. In
addition, the Global Alliance is seeing benefits beyond the primary
programme intent. In integrating its work with other health programmes,
including malaria and river blindness, among others, local health systems
are able to maximize resources leading to cost efficiencies. The drugs
that prevent LF also eliminate intestinal worms, providing an additional,
immediate benefit to LF treatment 1. Annual treatments have shown dramatic
and persistent reductions in hookworm and roundworm infections, improving
children=92s growth and nutrition.

As a public-private partnership, the Global Alliance brings together many
different organizations under one umbrella. Many of the partners involved
in the Global Alliance also have websites dedicated to the different
aspects of LF elimination. We invite you to visit these websites through
the LF Web Ring.

1Mectizan=AE (ivermectin) has formal regulatory approval for lymphatic
filariasis and onchocerciasis, and is donated by Merck & Co., Inc. for
those indications