01694nas a2200229   4500000000100000008004100001260001200042653003000054653002600084653003600110653003100146100001700177700001400194700001300208700001700221245011200238856007000350300001300420490000800433520100900441022001401450       2020                            d  c08/202010aapplied numerical methods10aeconomic epidemiology10aefficient treatment of diseases10amisallocation of resources1 aCastonguay F1 aSokolow S1 aDe Leo G1 aSanchirico J00aCost-effectiveness of combining drug and environmental treatments for environmentally transmitted diseases.  uhttps://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2020.0966  a202009660 v2873 a<p>Control of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) via mass drug administration (MDA) has increased considerably over the past decade, but strategies focused exclusively on human treatment show limited efficacy. This paper investigated trade-offs between drug and environmental treatments in the fight against NTDs by using schistosomiasis as a case study. We use optimal control techniques where the planner's objective is to treat the disease over a time horizon at the lowest possible total cost, where the total costs include treatment, transportation and damages (reduction in human health). We show that combining environmental treatments and drug treatments reduces the dependency on MDAs and that this reduction increases when the planners take a longer-run perspective on the fight to reduce NTDs. Our results suggest that NTDs with environmental reservoirs require moving away from a reliance solely on MDA to integrated treatment involving investment in both drug and environmental controls.</p>  a1471-2954