This report summarizes the 2018 STH Coalition Action Group meeting. The meeting sought to update the 2018-2020 Coalition Work Plan which in turn is intended to advance the global goal of elimination of STH as a public health problem by 2020. The Action Group considered recommendations from the 2017 STH Advisory Committee meeting and assessed progress toward the 2017 STH Coalition focus areas: preventive chemotherapy (PC) coverage, women of reproductive age (WRA), data quality, and advocacy. Furthermore, the meeting addressed current strategic gaps including the need for evidence-based monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of STH programs and the promotion of preferred practices in STH control implementation.
Preventive chemotherapy coverage of all at-risk children was just over 60% in 2016, and the WHO target of 75% will likely not be met by 2020. PC coverage of PSAC lags behind coverage of school-age children (SAC) for reasons including uncoordinated delivery platforms, associated reporting issues, lack of program and financial resources, and the unavailability of drug (e.g. through a donation). WHO publication of treatment guidelines in 2017 demonstrate progress in treating WRA, though safety concerns about treating pregnant women require further research.
To further improve data quality in STH control, the Coalition formed an M&E working group. The group will serve as a community of practice. It will contribute technical feedback on M&E tools. A subcommittee of the M&E Work Group, comprised of private-sector members, will identify gaps and propose solutions to improve M&E specific to non-governmental organizations involved in intervention delivery. An under-development global M&E Framework for national STH control programs will be presented at the Strategic and Technical Advisory Group (STAG) meeting in March 2019.
Advocacy is a STH Coalition priority. Current Coalition activities include a vision paper that outlines global STH strategy post-2020, a redesigned London Declaration Scorecard (including new outcome indicators), and a global gap analysis to quantify the funding needed to reach PC coverage targets for children.
The Action Group recognized its key role in the establishment and promotion of preferred practices. As such, the Coalition has begun considering endorsement of a number of tools and practices to complement WHO guidance and harmonize partner efforts. The aforementioned M&E Work Group will specifically focus on these functions related to monitoring and evaluation.
Specific future Coalition priorities identified during the Action Group meeting include: strengthening program data quality and use, improving PC coverage by addressing the PSAC coverage gap, and increasing targeted advocacy for quality generic drugs.
}, year = {2018}, pages = {16}, url = {https://tinyurl.com/yarmmw6k}, language = {eng}, }