Escalating the Global Fight Against Neglected Tropical Diseases Through Interventions in the Asia Pacific Region

As local, national and international control and elimination efforts for the neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) expand, there is increasing recognition that the 11 Southeast Asian countries together with the People's Republic of China (P.R. China) account for a significant burden of global poverty and disease. Indeed, approximately one-third of the world's intestinal helminthiases, most of the food-borne trematode infections, one-half of the active trachoma infections and a significant number of cases of lymphatic filariasis (LF), schistosomiasis and arboviral infections occur in this region. Among the Mekong countries, active programmes of mass drug administration are in place for the control and elimination of LF, as well as morbidity control aimed at school-aged children at risk of intestinal helminths. However, treatment coverage for intestinal helminth infections remains low in the largest Southeast Asian countries and in P.R. China's poorest provinces. The food-borne trematodiases, especially liver fluke infections, remain highly endemic in northern Thailand, Lao People's Democratic Republic and four provinces of P.R. China where they are an important risk factor for cholangiocarcinoma, while schistosomiasis continues to be an important zoonosis in P.R. China and the Philippines, although the former country has embarked on an ambitious elimination strategy. Through a global network for NTDs, an innovative finance mechanism Is being created to control the most common neglected diseases across Asia.