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The Pediatric Praziquantel Consortium welcomes new collaborators
To reinforce the efforts of the Pediatric Praziquantel Consortium to make a child-friendly treatment available to preschool-age children suffering from schistosomiasis, we are pleased to join forces with the following organizations
- Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany
- African Institute for Health and Development (AIHD), Kenya
- Programme National de Lutte contre les Maladies Tropicales Négligées à Chimiothérapie Préventive (PNLMTN-CP) at the Ministry of Health (MoH), Côte d’Ivoire
- Division of Vector Borne & Neglected Tropical Diseases at the MoH, Kenya
- Bilharzia & Worm Control Program, Vector Borne & NTDs Control Division at the MoH, Uganda
- Makerere University School of Public Health, Uganda
Having started as a small group of four partners in 2012, the Consortium has grown in strength and numbers over the years, now spanning the globe from Asia to Europe, and from South America to Africa. All of us are driven by the vision to contribute to the elimination of one of the most neglected tropical diseases, and to improve the lives of a so far untreated group of patients: young children under the age of six.
The support of several Ministries of Health, now also in Uganda, marks an important shift in the partnership profile of the Consortium with more collaborators from schistosome-endemic countries taking a leading role. These new collaborations will help to ensure that Consortium strategies are aligned with local regulations, strategies and expectations, fostering credibility and trust.
As part of the ADOPT program, co-funded by GHIT and EDCTP, the Ministries of Health will be instrumental in the design and implementation of the Access strategy to ensure a smooth future roll-out of the pediatric treatment at national level in Kenya, Uganda and Côte d’Ivoire. The Access strategy will be informed by social science studies, jointly conducted by TUM, AIHD, Makerere University and the University Félix Houphouët-Boigny (UFHB, Côte d’Ivoire). In these studies, the knowledge and perception of (pediatric) schistosomiasis and the acceptability of its treatment in preschool-age children will be assessed.
With the final phase of the clinical development program coming to a close, our new Consortium collaborators will play a vital role in addressing the next phase of the project – that of making the new treatment available and accessible to the young patients most in need, as outlined in this short video interview with Nadia Ben Meriem from the SCI Foundation, co-lead of the ADOPT program.