Developing eradication investment cases for onchocerciasis, lymphatic filariasis, and human African trypanosomiasis: rationale and main challenges.

The global health community pays renewed attention to evaluating the feasibility of elimination and eradication of certain communicable diseases [1], [2] besides continuing to reduce the burden of ill-health. Eradication depends on both the availability of tools to interrupt transmission, the capacity of health systems to implement these solutions effectively across all populations concerned, the required resources, and sustained political will. While the health and economic benefits of disease elimination and subsequent eradication may be substantial, elimination initiatives represent resource-intensive efforts with associated opportunity costs [3], [4]. Given the increasingly intense competition for global health resources, the decision to commit to national/regional elimination or eventual global eradication initiatives needs to be based upon robust analysis of benefits, risks, and costs.