An analysis of the many factors that have contributed to the striking success of the Onchocerciasis Control Program in West Africa (OCP), a major public health initiative now entering its twenty-first year. Throughout its history, OCP has been distinguished by its large size, the complexity of its operations, the long time frame needed for success, and the degree of commitment required by donors and participating countries alike. The Program has also been distinguished by its explicit aim to eliminate a disease, which has been a major obstacle to socioeconomic development as well as a cause of great disability and suffering. In examining the Program's many successful features, the author, who has directed OCP since late 1980, draws upon extensive personal experience, supported by the results of several external evaluations, to show how international collaboration, careful planning, and well managed field operations can overcome what may seem to be insurmountable obstacles. Throughout this analysis, an effort is made to extract lessons useful in the management of other large public health programs. The book also gives careful attention to managerial principles that will be important when OCP ceases operation and participating countries take over responsibility for the surveillance and management of recrudescence. The book has two parts. Chapters in the first part give a detailed account of the history, structure, operation, and achievements of OCP. Part two, on the management of OCP, explains how sound budgeting, detailed plans, time-limited goals, task-focused training, and careful computation of costs worked to maintain well-organized operations and keep staff motivated and efficient

This book provides an overview on the major neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) occurring in Sub-Saharan Africa, such as Leishmaniasis, Buruli Ulcer and Schistosomiasis. In well-structured chapters epidemiology and biology of these parasitic diseases will be discussed in detail. Further, diagnostics and therapeutic approaches as well as prevention strategies will be reviewed. The book will be of interest to basic researchers and clinicians engaged in infectious disease, tropical medicine, and parasitology, and a must-have for scientists specialized in the characteristics of the Sub-Saharan region.

A major objective of this open access book is to summarize the current status of Buruli Ulcer (BU) research for the first time. It will identify gaps in our knowledge, stimulate research and support control of the disease by providing insight into approaches for surveillance, diagnosis, and treatment of Buruli Ulcer. Book chapters will cover the history, epidemiology diagnosis, treatment and disease burden of BU and provide insight into the microbiology, genomics, transmission and virulence of Mycobacterium ulcerans.

It provides a template for a broad range of global health efforts and is an excellent example of evolving, increasingly effective approaches to disease control and elimination.

The revised and updated second edition of Water and Sanitation Related Diseases and the Changing Environment offers an interdisciplinary guide to the conditions responsible for water and sanitation related diseases. The authors discuss the pathogens, vectors, and their biology, morbidity and mortality that result from a lack of safe water and sanitation. The text also explores the distribution of these diseases and the conditions that must be met to reduce or eradicate them. The text includes contributions from authorities from the fields of climate change, epidemiology, environmental health, environmental engineering, global health, medicine, medical anthropology, nutrition, population, and public health. Covers the causes of individual diseases with basic information about the diseases and data on the distribution, prevalence, and incidence as well as interconnected factors such as environmental factors. The authors cover access to and maintenance of clean water, and guidelines for the safe use of wastewater, excreta, and grey water, plus examples of solutions. Written for students, and professionals in infectious disease, public health and medicine, chemical and environmental engineering, and international affairs, the second edition of Water and Sanitation Related Diseases and the Changing Environment isa comprehensive resource to the conditions responsible for water and sanitation related diseases.

Surprising though it seems, the world faces almost as great a threat today from arthropod-borne diseases as it did in the heady days of the 1950s when global eradication of such diseases by eliminating their vectors with synthetic insecticides, particularly DDT, seemed a real possibility. Malaria, for example, still causes tremendous morbidity and mortality throughout the world, especially in Africa. Knowledge of the biology of insect and arachnid disease vectors is arguably more important now than it has ever been. Biological research directed at the development of better methods of control becomes even more important in the light of the partial failure of many control schemes that are based on insecticide- although not all is gloom, since basic biological studies have contributed enormously to the outstanding success of international control programmes such as the vast Onchocerciasis Control Programme in West Africa. It is a sine qua non for proper understanding of the epidemiology and successful vector control of any human disease transmitted by an arthropod that all concerned with the problem - medical entomologist, parasitologist, field technician - have a good basic understanding of the arthropod's biology. Knowledge will be needed not only of its direct relationship to any parasite or pathogen that it transmits but also of its structure, its life history and its behaviour - in short, its natural history. Above all, it will be necessary to be sure that it is correctly identified.