Operational research to support and enhance lymphatic filariasis control efforts in Eastern and Southern Africa

project summary

Lymphatic filariasis (LF) is a disabling disease resulting from a mosquito-transmitted parasitic infection. It is one of the most prevalent of the Neglected Tropical Diseases, primarly a disease of the poor, and has recently been recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as one of the leading causes of long-term disability in the world. The project objective is to investigate, through operational research, barriers and opportunities for enhanced LF control, which primarily is based on mass drug administration (MDA), in two committed endemic African countries (Tanzania and Zambia), and thereby to contribute to the success of control efforts. The research will be carried out as four work-packages, each with its own specific objective: 1) to investigate basic determinants of LF epidemiology, transmission and control application in endemic rural communities of Zambia; 2)to investigate the epidemiology and transmssion of urban LF in Tanzania, as a basis for its control; 3) to investigate factors that determine drug coverage rates, in order to develop strategies for increased drug compliance in rural and urban Tanzania, and; 4) to assess different approaches for monitoring the effect of the ongoing national LF elimination programme on human infection and transmission in an endemic area of Tanzania. The project will be carried out in close collaboration with the national control programmes, and all work-packages contain significant elements of capacity building.