Deworming Venezuela

Venezuela’s humanitarian crisis has led to ongoing epidemic. The country is experiencing a massive exodus of biomedical scientists and qualified healthcare professionals. Sixty-six percent of the population lives in extreme poverty, amid escalating violence and a crumbling healthcare infrastructure more typical of conflict zones or war-torn nations. Reemergence of arthropod-borne and vaccine-preventable diseases has sparked serious epidemics that also affect neighboring countries and are becoming a regional health threat in the Americas. The current humanitarian crisis in Venezuela is a regional public health threat and requires immediate action. 

Long-term shortages of essential medicines and medical supplies, interruption of epidemiologic surveillance systems, weakening of immunization programs, and an unprecedented exodus of trained medical personnel have set the stage for the resurgence of vector borne and vaccine-preventable infections. Among these infections are the soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections. 

Children in rural areas of the Lara state experience the interrelated problems of poor growth, anemia and parasitic infections. In children, the STHs stunt physical growth, physical fitness, and development. These processes operate partially through parasite induced malnutrition, where they can rob children of essential nutrients. For example, hookworm infection impairs growth of children by causing blood loss that leads to profound protein and iron losses and ultimately to anemia. 

This project aims to implement a mass deworming strategy to reduce the state of malnutrition associated with intestinal helminth and protozoan infections in school-age Venezuelan children.

The project has 4 objectives:

1. Diagnose parasitic infections among children aged 3-16 in vulnerable communities in Venezuela.
2. Implement Mass Drug Administration (MDA) treatment to patients in the selected communities.
3. Implement a water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH)- neglected tropical diseases (NTD) Education Program to raise the level of awareness of communities about the link of WASH and the transmission of parasitic infections.
4. Evaluate the WASH status among these communities for a WASH intervention in Phase 2.