The Global
Alliance to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis welcomes you to our website
and encourages you to discover more about LF. More than 1 billion
people in approximately 80 countries live at risk of contracting
lymphatic filariasis (LF).
More commonly known as elephantiasis, LF is a devastating parasitic
infection spread by mosquitoes. Currently over 120 million people
are already infected, with more than 40 million incapacitated or
disfigured by the disease.
The Global
Alliance is a public-private partnership created to assist in
advocacy, resource mobilisation, and programme implementation. Created
in 2000, it brings together national Ministries of Health, the World
Health Organization, companies within the private sector, international
development agencies and foundations, non-governmental organisations,
research and academic institutions, and local communities. GlaxoSmithKline
and Merck & Co., Inc., have
pledged all the albendazole and Mectizan necessary to achieve elimination
- the largest drug donations in history, valued at more than $1
billion.
No public health
programme has ever expanded as quickly as the Global Programme to
Eliminate LF. Annual treatments have jumped
rapidly, up from 25 million in 12 countries in 2000 to 122 million
in 36 countries in 2003 to over 250 million in 39 countries in 2004.
In 2005 381 million people received the necessary drugs. The rapid
expansion can be attributed to several factors, including the generous
drug donations and the fact that governments in endemic regions
increasingly view the programme as a tangible way to address poverty
and improve health. In addition, the Global Alliance is seeing benefits
beyond the primary programme intent. In integrating its work with
other health programmes, including malaria and river blindness,
among others, local health systems are able to maximize resources
leading to cost efficiencies. The drugs that prevent LF also eliminate
intestinal worms, providing an additional, immediate
benefit to LF treatment*. Annual treatments have shown dramatic
and persistent reductions in hookworm and roundworm infections,
improving children’s growth and nutrition.
As a public-private
partnership, the Global Alliance brings together many different
organizations under one umbrella. Many of the partners involved
in the Global Alliance also have websites dedicated to the different
aspects of LF elimination. We invite you to visit these websites
through the LF Web Ring.
*Mectizan®
(ivermectin) has formal regulatory approval for lymphatic filariasis
and onchocerciasis, and is donated by Merck & Co., Inc. for
those indications |
 |