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Greetings!
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 As
we move into 2010, I would like to thank you for your continued interest in the
work of Children Without Worms (CWW). We had an amazing year in 2009, which
presented many wonderful opportunities for 2010.
In 2009, we welcomed our new Senior Program Associate, Meklit Berhan. In this
issue you'll get to know Ms. Berhan, an energetic and accomplished individual,
whose experience and can-do attitude is helping us successfully launch a
number of new projects.
You'll
also learn about the two technical assistance workshops for recipient countries
that CWW facilitated and the annual meeting of the Mebendazole Advisory
Committee (MAC). These meetings of key stakeholders provided opportunities to
reflect on successes to-date and provide recommendations for strengthening the
program in years to come. We've included a summary of these recommendations and
next steps in the article below.
One of our exciting new projects this year is the Inventory of NGO Deworming
Programs, a project that the World Health Organization (WHO) Working Group on
Access to Medicines for Neglected Tropical Diseases requested CWW lead. We're
excited and pleased to be working with the WHO and the NGO community on this
project. We hope you'll enjoy learning more about the Inventory in this issue.
Please join me in setting a resolution that this
year we will do even more to achieve our vision of "all the world's
children free of intestinal worms, so they can grow, play, learn and enrich
their communities."
Warmest regards,
Kim Koporc
Acting Director
Children Without Worms
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| The People Behind CWW: Meklit Berhan, MPH
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 In
August 2009, Children Without Worms (CWW) welcomed Senior Program Associate
Meklit Berhan. Ms. Berhan holds a Master of Public Health from Emory
University's Rollins School of Public Health and has significant experience
working across a variety of organizations, including the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC), the United States Agency for International Development
(USAID), the World Bank, the United Nations (UN), Ministries of Health (MoHs),
consulting firms, and academic and research institutions. She believes this
earlier work "gave her good exposure to the working cultures of these
institutions," so she understands "how things get done." Prior
to joining CWW, Ms. Berhan worked with Macro International, Inc. to provide
technical assistance to CDC's Global AIDS Program, helping countries funded by
the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) monitor and evaluate
the effectiveness of their HIV programs.
Ms. Berhan says she had "always been
interested in diseases for which we have preventive measures, particularly NTDs
(Neglected Tropical Diseases), as well as improving water and sanitation (WATSAN)
conditions." She feels that, "as part of the public health community,
we have a long way to go to combat some of the basic factors that lead to poor
health." For Ms. Berhan, CWW represents a great opportunity to address some
of the basic conditions that lead to poor health. She believes that CWW's strategy of combining deworming
medication, health education and improved WATSAN makes it "a unique
approach that really can break the cycle of infection."
Ms. Berhan echoes the feelings of many in public health when she says that CWW
has limited resources to do a tremendous amount of important work. However, she
says that CWW overcomes this by partnering with other programs that share CWW's
vision and by tapping into valuable expertise available through the Mebendazole
Advisory Committee (MAC).
Ms. Berhan has quickly become an important asset of the CWW program,
immediately diving in and developing the inventory project plan as well as a
framework to determine the impact of WATSAN on the effectiveness of STH Control
programs. She is excited to work on these projects and to support a program
that provides treatment to millions of children in countries at risk for
intestinal worms. She firmly believes that CWW "has the potential to make
a huge impact," and is doing her part to make sure it does.
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| A Global Inventory of Deworming Efforts
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 In
partnership with WHO, Deworm the World (DtW), and the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative (SCI), Children Without Worms (CWW) will soon be launching an
Inventory of NGO Deworming Programs. The Inventory will ensure that NGO deworming efforts and
achievements are reflected in global measurements of progress in controlling
STH infections and schistosomiasis.
The
Inventory of NGO Deworming Programs is a database that collates district-level
data on NGO deworming activities and will complement data already collected by WHO and compiled in the Preventive Chemotherapty (PCT) Databank. The
Inventory will serve as a reliable repository of NGO deworming data that those
responsible for planning and implementing deworming activities can access and
use.
Purpose
of the Inventory
Based on treatment data in the WHO's
PCT databank, it is estimated that worldwide only 11 percent of at-risk school-age children have
been treated with an anthelminthic drug. Because the databank does not include
treatment numbers from all NGO deworming programs, the 11 percent coverage rate is most certainly an underestimate of the true scale of deworming activities.
The
Inventory will bring to light the dedicated efforts of the many NGOs that
provide deworming drugs to children around the world. The Inventory will also
ensure that all significant deworming activities are reflected in measurements
of global progress toward the WHO target. This target, documented in 2001 World Health Assembly (WHA) resolution WHA 54.19, specifies that by 2010, member nations would treat at least 75 percent of all school-aged children at risk of illness from STH and Schistosomiasis. Because the Inventory will capture
and provide complete information on who is deworming and how many and where
children are being dewormed, it can facilitate sharing of best practices,
collaborative and strategic partnerships, coordinated advocacy, and efficient use of resources.
Participation Is Key to Success
CWW invites any
program that provides, or has provided in the past year, albendazole,
mebendazole, praziquantel, or other anthelminthic drugs to treat
soil-transmitted helminth infections, schistosomiasis, or lymphatic filariasis to take part in the Inventory. If your organization meets these criteria, or
if you know of an organization that does, CWW encourages you to contact us by
e-mail at info@deworminginventory.org.
For More Information
The Inventory will be launched in early 2010. Updates
on the Inventory will be sent periodically. To join our subscriber's list,
please send your contact information to info@deworminginventory.org.
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CWW: More Than a Deworming Program
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 Since
its inception in 2006, the strategic focus of Children Without Worms (CWW) has been to promote
comprehensive STH control to break the cycle of reinfection. This comprehensive
approach includes both treatment and prevention activities. Four years later,
CWW remains committed to making a sustainable impact by integrating deworming with programs that improve
access to potable water and latrines and that promote positive behavior change.
During
its Technical Assistance Workshops for African and Asian recipient countries,
CWW asked participants for their recommendations on how to promote and
institutionalize sustainable and comprehensive STH control policies. CWW then
put the same question to its Mebendazole Advisory Committee (MAC) members. Some
of the conclusions and recommendations of the recipient countries and MAC
members are listed below:
The
field of STH control is "siloed." Deworming programs need to find ways to
identify and work effectively with organizations working in the Water and
Sanitation and Hygiene (WATSAN or WASH) sectors. The
most important requirement for a successful partnership is to develop a shared,
overriding, goal. CWW
needs a roadmap to advocate for its strategic approach on the global stage. Recipient
countries need assistance to advocate for comprehensive STH control and promote
coordination among stakeholders. Data
are needed for effective advocacy. Areas of weakness regarding data include
baseline data collection, treatment data collection, data validation, and
impact assessment. CWW
should advocate for including neglected tropical disease (NTD) evaluation
components (e.g., numbers treated) in WATSAN projects sponsored by Development
Banks.
Over
the next few months, CWW will continue to work with its recipient countries and
MAC members to incorporate these recommendations in its 5-year strategic plan
for 2011-2015. CWW will also call upon many of its partners for additional
input so that together, they can work to achieve the shared vision.
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If you are interested in learning more, please visit the Children Without Worms web site or fill out the contact form on our site.
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