MSF Scientific Days Asia 2024

Each year hundreds of thousands of people die from a neglected tropical disease, while many more suffer serious illness or lifelong disability. Yet as we mark World Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) Day on 30th January 2023, global progress towards eliminating these diseases is threatened by shifting global health priorities and declining investment in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The content collection linked below offers a snapshot of MSF’s work over the past two years on managing some of the most deadly NTDs, finding better tools and models of care for highly affected populations, and advocating for greater access to care and increased global funding. Several authors describe our programs and lessons learned from a decade of treating snakebite victims in sub-Saharan Africa. Two studies evaluate shorter, less toxic treatment for visceral leischmaniasis, while a policy analysis proposes critical steps towards eliminating this horrific disease in East Africa. Last, reports from Sokoto, Nigeria describe the collaborative development of a comprehensive model of care for noma.

Viral hepatitis is a significant cause of disease and death globally. Yet powerful new medical tools to combat hepatitis C and E still reach only a tiny fraction of people who desperately need them, especially in low-resource and emergency settings.

To mark World Hepatitis Day (July 28th) we highlight recent MSF research on making these breakthrough products more widely accessible and simpler to use.

For hepatitis C, where groundbreaking antiviral drugs can cure nearly all patients, MSF is developing comprehensive, community-based models of care that offer rapid screening, diagnosis, and treatment under one roof. In some settings programs focus on the specific needs of highly vulnerable populations, such as people living in remote areas, forcibly displaced refugees, or those co-infected with HIV or TB or who inject drugs.

Turning to prevention, MSF is exploring ways to use the Hepatitis E vaccine more effectively in areas where poor sanitation and water quality regularly lead to outbreaks. Studies in a South Sudanese camp for internally displaced people are strengthening evidence for the vaccine’s feasibility, efficacy, safety and community acceptance, especially for pregnant women and their fetuses. Another report analyzes strategies for overcoming barriers to widespread vaccine adoption.