02094nas a2200253 4500000000100000008004100001260003400042653005700076653002700133653002100160653002800181100001400209700001400223700001600237700001800253700001500271700001400286245015400300856009200454300001200546490000700558520125000565022002501815 2020 d bOxford University Press (OUP) 10 aPublic Health, Environmental and Occupational Health 10 aHealth(social science) 10 aGeneral Medicine 10 aCommunity participation 1 aKrentel A 1 aGyapong M 1 aMcFarland D 1 aOgundahunsi O 1 aTitaley CR 1 aAddiss DG 00 aKeeping communities at the centre of efforts to eliminate lymphatic filariasis: learning from the past to reach a future free of lymphatic filariasis uhttps://academic.oup.com/inthealth/article-pdf/13/Supplement_1/S55/35056137/ihaa086.pdf aS55-S59 0 v13 3 aAbstract
Since the launch of the Global Programme to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis (GPELF) in 2000, more than 910 million people have received preventive chemotherapy for lymphatic filariasis (LF) and many thousands have received care for chronic manifestations of the disease. To achieve this, millions of community drug distributors (CDDs), community members and health personnel have worked together each year to ensure that at-risk communities receive preventive chemotherapy through mass drug administration (MDA). The successes of 20 y of partnership with communities is celebrated, including the application of community-directed treatment, the use of CDDs and integration with other platforms to improve community access to healthcare. Important challenges facing the GPELF moving forward towards 2030 relate to global demographic, financing and programmatic changes. New innovations in research and practice present opportunities to encourage further community partnership to achieve the elimination of LF as a public health problem. We stress the critical need for community ownership in the current Covid-19 pandemic, to counter concerns in relaunching MDA programmes for LF. a1876-3413, 1876-3405