Children Without Worms (CWW) is a program of the Task Force for Global Health and envisions a world in which all at-risk people, specifically targeting children, are healthy and free of worm infections (helminthiases) so they can develop to their full potential.[1][2] To accomplish the vision of a worm-free world, CWW works closely with the World Health Organization, national Ministries of Health, nongovernmental organizations and private-public coalitions such as Uniting to Combat NTDs.[3][4] It acts as an intermediary for the pharmaceutical company Johnson and Johnson in distributing the latter's mebendazole for mass deworming of children to reduce or end soil-transmitted helminthiasis.[5]

Rubina Imtiaz is the Director of CWW.[6][7]

Background

Soil-transmitted helminthiasis is a neglected tropical disease as a result of infection of intestinal parasites such as roundworm (Ascaris lumbricoides), whipworm (Trichuris trichiura), hookworms (Ancylostoma duodenale and Necator americanus), and pinworm/threadworm (Strongyloides stercoralis). Most prevalent in the tropical and subtropical regions of Subsaharan Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia and China, the disease is an enormous burden on humanity, amounting to 135,000 deaths every year, and persistent infection of more than two billion people.[8][9] The long-term impact is even worse. In these regions, the disease is the single most debilitating cause of intellectual and physical disability. Thus it remains a relentless factor in poor socio-economic growth and human development.[10][11][12]

In 2012, the World Health Organization convened a meeting at London. It was headed by Margaret Chan, Director-General of WHO, and Bill Gates, Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Joined by representatives from the World Bank, major pharmaceutical companies, and governments of US, UK, United Arab Emirates, Bangladesh, Brazil, Mozambique and Tanzania, the meeting approved the London Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases. The declaration was meant to be a global collaborative disease eradication programme targeting the control and elimination of tropical diseases.[5][13]

History

Children Without Worms was established in 2005-2006 as a partnership between Johnson & Johnson[14] and the Task Force for Global Health.[15] The involvement of Johnson and Johnson was in large part for the implementation of the London Declaration. As part of the project, Johnson and Johnson was to donate its mebendazole for the treatment of soil-transmitted helminthiasis.[13][5]

Johnson and Johnson committed to free distribution of 200 million doses of mebendazole tablets every year until 2020.[16] Initially called the Mebendazole Donation Initiative, CWW was the first program focused exclusively on reducing the burden of soil-transmitted helminth infections in school-age children in Africa, Asia, and Central America.[15] In 2016, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Johnson and Johnson's Vermox Chewable, a mebendazole tablets suitable for children as young as one year of age, and with it the distribution has been extended to babies.[16][17]

Objectives

CWW's mission is to enhance the health and development of children by reducing intestinal worm infections.

CWW's work focuses on three pillars:[18]

  • Country Engagement: support and build the capacity of national deworming programs to ensure effective and efficient delivery of interventions.
  • Partnerships and Advocacy: support effective partnerships with stakeholders to accelerate STH control efforts in endemic countries and disseminate preferred practices in program management, and evaluation.
  • Technical Leadership: provide scientific leadership to advocate for evidence-based approaches for the control of intestinal worm infections.

Works and achievements

From 2006, CWW agreed to manage the deworming medicine donations from Johnson & Johnson and GlaxoSmithKline for soil-transmitted helminthiasis (STH).[19] From 2007 to 201, CWW's strategy focussed on drug donation to country engagement, partnerships and advocacy.[20] In the first mass deworming programme involving CWW, one million Ethiopean children were given mebendazole in 2007, and since 2013 annual mass deworming reached six million.[21] 14 endemic countries were covered during the first phase up to 2012.[22]

Since 2016, CWW has provided technical support to the Ministry of Health in Bangladesh to strengthen their deworming program and continues to engage with countries like Kenya to strengthen their deworming efforts.[23][24]

CWW serves as the secretariat for the Soil-Transmitted Helminthiasis Advisory Committee and the STH Coalition.[25] STHAC is group of researchers in tropical medicine and diseases, and is a body that monitors annual activities and achievements in global deworming programmes.[26] It includes scientists experts in Neglected Tropical Diseases, parasitology, epidemiology, child health, and education who convene once a year over two days to provide technical and scientific advice on STH control to national programs, researchers, funders and pharmaceutical donors to improve STH control efforts globally.[27][28]

The STH Coalition was established in 2014 to bring together a cross-sectoral group of partners to accelerate efforts to control STH worldwide. With over 60 members, the STH Coalition members work together on advocacy, resource mobilization, monitoring and evaluation, policy analysis and research to scale-up deworming efforts in endemic communities around the world.[29][30]

CWW's funding mainly comes from Johnson & Johnson[31] and GlaxoSmithKline.[32] It continued to participate in epidemiological research on helminthiasis and anthelmintic treatment programme.[22][33][24][26]

References

  1. ↑ Nickbarg S (23 November 2011). "Worming Your Way Into Better Health: J&J and Children Without Worms". bclc.uschamber.com. Business Civic Leadership Center, Washington, DC. Archived from the original on 17 February 2013. Retrieved 2013-05-31.
  2. ↑ Salaam-Blyther T (2011). Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD): Background, Responses, and Issues for Congress. DIANE Publishing. p. 52. ISBN 9781437981148.
  3. ↑ "Uniting to Combat NTDs". Uniting to Combat NTDs. Retrieved 2019-02-13.
  4. ↑ IFPMA (2012). "Children Without Worms". ifpma.org. Retrieved 2013-05-31.
  5. 1 2 3 "Private and Public Partners Unite to Combat 10 Neglected Tropical Diseases by 2020". gatesfoundation.org. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. 30 January 2012. Archived from the original on 14 March 2013. Retrieved 2013-05-30.
  6. ↑ "Rubina Imtiaz". Huffpost. Retrieved 2022-09-29.
  7. ↑ "Rubina Imtiaz". The Global Schistosomiasis Alliance (GSA). Retrieved 2022-09-29.
  8. ↑ WHO (2012). Eliminating Soil-transmitted Helminthiasis as a Public Health Problem in Children: Progress Report 2001–2010 and Strategic Plan 2011–2020 (PDF). WHO Press, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. pp. 1–78. ISBN 978-92-4-150312-9.
  9. ↑ Lustigman S, Prichard RK, Gazzinelli A, Grant WN, Boatin BA, McCarthy JS, Basáñez MG (2012). "A research agenda for helminth diseases of humans: the problem of helminthiases". PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. 6 (4): e1582. doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0001582. PMC 3335854. PMID 22545164.
  10. ↑ Bethony J, Brooker S, Albonico M, Geiger SM, Loukas A, Diemert D, Hotez PJ (May 2006). "Soil-transmitted helminth infections: ascariasis, trichuriasis, and hookworm". Lancet. 367 (9521): 1521–1532. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(06)68653-4. PMID 16679166. S2CID 8425278.
  11. ↑ Yap P, Fürst T, Müller I, Kriemler S, Utzinger J, Steinmann P (August 2012). "Determining soil-transmitted helminth infection status and physical fitness of school-aged children". Journal of Visualized Experiments. 66 (66): e3966. doi:10.3791/3966. PMC 3486755. PMID 22951972.
  12. ↑ Boatin BA, Basáñez MG, Prichard RK, Awadzi K, Barakat RM, García HH, et al. (2012). "A research agenda for helminth diseases of humans: towards control and elimination". PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. 6 (4): e1547. doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0001547. PMC 3335858. PMID 22545161.
  13. 1 2 WHO (3 February 2012). "WHO roadmap inspires unprecedented support to defeat neglected tropical diseases". who.int. World Health Organization, Geneva. Archived from the original on April 7, 2014. Retrieved 2013-05-29.
  14. ↑ "Keeping Children Free of Infection". Content Lab - U.S. 2017-01-31. Retrieved 2018-12-20.
  15. 1 2 "Collaboration has been the hallmark of our work for more than three decades". The Task Force for Global Health. Retrieved 2018-12-20.
  16. 1 2 "How Johnson & Johnson Is Helping Save Children Around the World from Intestinal Worm Infections". Content Lab U.S. 2017-04-21. Retrieved 2022-09-29.
  17. ↑ "U.S. FDA Approves Vermox™ Chewable (Mebendazole) For Treatment of Children and Adults With Roundworm and Whipworm Infections | Johnson & Johnson". Content Lab U.S. 19 October 2016. Retrieved 2022-09-29.
  18. ↑ "What We Do | Children Without Worms". childrenwithoutworms.org. Retrieved 2018-12-20.
  19. ↑ "CWW - Childeren Without Worms: Partnership for Treating and Preventing Intestinal Worms. | InfoNTD". www.infontd.org. Retrieved 2022-09-29.
  20. ↑ Friedman AJ, Ali SM, Albonico M (2012). "Safety of a New Chewable Formulation of Mebendazole for Preventive Chemotherapy Interventions to Treat Young Children in Countries with Moderate-to-High Prevalence of Soil Transmitted Helminth Infections". Journal of Tropical Medicine. 2012: 590463. doi:10.1155/2012/590463. PMC 3540782. PMID 23319961.
  21. ↑ "Mass Drug Administration to Deworm 17 Million Children Underway in Ethiopia". WHO | Regional Office for Africa. Retrieved 2022-09-29.
  22. 1 2 Koporc KM, Strunz E, Holloway C, Addiss DG, Lin W (December 2015). Garba A (ed.). "Assessing "First Mile" Supply Chain Factors Affecting Timeliness of School-Based Deworming Interventions: Supply and Logistics Performance Indicators". PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. 9 (12): e0004115. doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0004115. PMC 4684332. PMID 26657842.
  23. ↑ "Country Support | Children Without Worms". www.childrenwithoutworms.org. Retrieved 2019-01-08.
  24. 1 2 Dhakal S, Karim MJ, Al Kawsar A, Irish J, Rahman M, Tupps C, et al. (December 2020). Montresor A (ed.). "Post-intervention epidemiology of STH in Bangladesh: Data to sustain the gains". PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. 14 (12): e0008597. doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0008597. PMC 7746288. PMID 33284834.
  25. ↑ tfgh (2019-05-30). "Better Data and Drug Quality Drives Children Without Worms' Efforts to Help Eliminate Intestinal Worm Infections". The Task Force for Global Health. Retrieved 2022-09-29.
  26. 1 2 Freeman MC, Akogun O, Belizario V, Brooker SJ, Gyorkos TW, Imtiaz R, et al. (April 2019). Webster JP (ed.). "Challenges and opportunities for control and elimination of soil-transmitted helminth infection beyond 2020". PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. 13 (4): e0007201. doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0007201. PMC 6459486. PMID 30973872.
  27. ↑ "Soil-Transmitted Helminthiasis Advisory Committee Convenes at Swiss TPH". www.myscience.ch. 18 October 2016. Retrieved 2019-01-08.
  28. ↑ "Technical Leadership | Children Without Worms". www.childrenwithoutworms.org. Retrieved 2019-01-08.
  29. ↑ "New Methods for Assessing Impact in deworming". Task Force for Global Health. 2017-04-03.
  30. ↑ "Uniting to Stop the Worms Infographic" (PDF). www.childrenwithoutworms.org. 13 December 2018.
  31. ↑ "How Johnson & Johnson Is Helping Save Children Around the World from Intestinal Worm Infections". Content Lab - U.S. 2017-04-21. Retrieved 2019-01-08.
  32. ↑ "One medicine fighting two neglected tropical diseases" (PDF). www.gsk.com. Retrieved 2019-01-08.
  33. ↑ Harris JR, Worrell CM, Davis SM, Odero K, Mogeni OD, Deming MS, et al. (March 2015). Bentwich Z (ed.). "Unprogrammed deworming in the Kibera slum, Nairobi: implications for control of soil-transmitted helminthiases". PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. 9 (3): e0003590. doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0003590. PMC 4357447. PMID 25763577.
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