Providing information for decision-making in the Nigerian Polio Eradication Program, 2016-2020.

Nigeria made a coordinated effort to be certified by the World Health Organization's African Region for interrupting endemic transmission of wild poliovirus type-1 (WPV1) in August 2020 as a response to the resurgence of WPV1 cases in August 2016 after going two years without a case. The NEOC Data Working Group (DWG) was instrumental in providing quality and timely surveillance and campaign information for decision-making in order to interrupt WPV1 transmission and provide data toward documentation of its elimination for regional certification. The polio pre-campaign dashboard was used to assess the level of preparedness for Oral Poliovirus Vaccine (OPV) polio supplementary immunization activities (SIA) at three weeks, two weeks, one week, and three days to the start of each campaign implemented during 2016-2020.

Establishing research priorities for malaria elimination in the context of the emergency response to artemisinin resistance framework-the Cambodian approach.

Background: Countries of the greater Mekong subregion have made a transition from malaria control to an aim for falciparum and vivax malaria elimination. The elimination of falciparum malaria will have to be achieved against a background of increasing artemisinin and multi-drug resistance. This ambitious goal requires an operational research (OR) agenda that addresses the dynamic challenges encountered on the path to elimination, which will need to be flexible and developed in close relation with the cambodian national programme for parasitology, entomology and malaria control (CNM).

The Cambodia Research Consortium: expediting research for malaria elimination with the emergency response to artemisinin resistance framework.

This commentary offers insight into how to best address barriers that may hinder the translation of malaria research findings into policy. It also proposes viable methods of implementing these policies in Cambodia. Currently, a wide range of malaria research is being conducted by in-country stakeholders, including Cambodia's National Programme for Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria Control's (CNM), non-governmental organizations, and academic institutions.

Sensitivity and specificity of a rapid point-of-care test for active yaws: a comparative study.

Background: To eradicate yaws, national control programmes use the Morges strategy (initial mass treatment and biannual resurveys). The resurvey component is designed to actively detect and treat remaining yaws cases and is initiated on the basis of laboratory-supported reactive non-treponemal serology (using the rapid plasma reagin [RPR] test). Unfortunately, the RPR test is available rarely in yaws-endemic areas.

Haemophilus ducreyi as a cause of skin ulcers in children from a yaws-endemic area of Papua New Guinea: a prospective cohort study.

Background: Skin infections with ulceration are a major health problem in countries of the south Pacific region. Yaws, caused by Treponema pallidum subspecies pertenue and diagnosed by the presence of skin ulcers and a reactive syphilis serology, is one major cause, but this infection can be confused clinically with ulcers due to other causative agents. We investigated T pallidum pertenue and another bacterium known to cause skin infections in the Pacific islands-Haemophilus ducreyi-as causes of skin ulceration in a yaws-endemic region.

Lymphatic filariasis in Papua New Guinea: distribution at district level and impact of mass drug administration, 1980 to 2011.

Background: Lymphatic filariasis (LF) caused by Wuchereria bancrofti is present at high prevalence in some parts of Papua New Guinea. However, there has been no rigorous data-based representative assessment of nationwide prevalence of LF. The LF programme has been daunted by the scope of the problem, and progress on mass drug administration (MDA) has been slow and lacking in resources.

dhfr and dhps genotype and sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine treatment failure in children with falciparum malaria in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Objective: To determine the relationship between mutations in dhfr and dhps and SP treatment failure in Plasmodium falciparum malaria in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Methods: Therapeutic efficacy trial was conducted in Rutshuru, Eastern DRC, between June and September 2002, comparing sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP), SP plus amodiaquine (AQSP) and artesunate plus SP (ASSP) regimens for treating malaria in children under 5 years old. We genotyped 212 samples for mutations associated with SP resistance and investigated their association with treatment failure.

Prevalence of pfcrt mutations in Congolese and Malawian Plasmodium falciparum isolates as determined by a new Taqman assay.

A real-time PCR assay was developed to detect the K76T point mutation in the Plasmodium falciparum putative chloroquine resistance transporter gene. The assay was used with malaria positive clinical isolates from Rutshuru in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and from Malawi. The K76T mutation was found in 52/56 (93%) clinical isolates from the DRC, where chloroquine resistance is high, but in none of the 12 isolates tested from Malawi where chloroquine is now rarely used.

Malaria in primary school children and infants in kinshasa, democratic republic of the congo: surveys from the 1980s and 2000.

Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has been a perennial malarious area and has grown almost 14 times from 380,000 people in 1960 to 5,293,000 in 2003. The most complete information on malaria prevalence in Kinshasa was first acquired in 1981-1983. Blood smears were obtained from 25,135 children (ages 5-15 years) from 245 schools in 16 of 24 zones.

Assessing the efficacy of chloroquine and sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine for treatment of uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

We evaluated the in vivo responses to chloroquine (CQ), the first line antimalarial, and to sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP), the most readily available and affordable alternative treatment, in children under 5 with acute uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in seven sites of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) between May 2000 and November 2001, using the standard 14-day WHO protocol. In the CQ group, the overall treatment failure rate was 45.4% (95% CI: 40.