Under the cooperative agreement signed with the World Health Organization (WHO), Mundo Sano Foundation renews its commitment that, by 2030, not a single baby is born with the disease and contributes to the end of the neglect of neglected tropical diseases, in line with the WHO Road Map2030 and the United Nations sustainable development goals.
Along with the Insud Pharma company, Mundo Sano made benznidazole tablets available for the treatment of Chagas disease in children.
According to the WHO, Chagas disease affects more than 7 million people in the world, of which more than 1.2 million are women of childbearing age. Every year, almost 9,000 children are born with Chagas disease due to vertical transmission (children born to infected mothers and that become infected through the transplacental route).
Treatment with benznidazole (at the earliest stages of infection) can cure Chagas disease, prevent or stop disease progression, and prevent congenital transmission from pregnant women to their unborn babies.
Mundo Sano: a history of commitment to Chagas disease
For 20 years now, Mundo Sano Foundation has implemented comprehensive programs for vector control in urban and rural areas of Argentina, with sanitary improvement of rural houses being one of the program components.
Both in endemic and non-endemic regions, the Foundation encourages access to diagnosis and treatment of Chagas disease, in line with the Road Mapof the WHO; in addition, along with strategic partners, the Foundation ensures production and availability of benznidazole for the etiological treatment of Chagas disease worldwide.
In 2017, the United States Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) approved the first drug for the treatment of Chagas disease, produced by Insud Pharma and boosted by Mundo Sano. In 2018, the company along with Elea laboratory developed a presentation of benznidazole of 12.5 mg, a suitable dosage to treat Chagas disease in the pediatric population.
The disease
Chagas disease, also known as American trypanosomiasis, is a potentially life-threatening disease caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi(T. cruzi).
While considerable advances have been made, particularly in the reduction of vector transmission and in the screening of donated blood and organs, diagnosis and medical care of the most affected people has been a challenge.
At present, under-diagnosis of Chagas disease cases reaches 90%, and it is believed that under-diagnosis of congenital and pediatric cases would be as high.
The disease is found mainly in endemic areas of 21 continental Latin American continental countries. However, the movement of people to urban areas and to other continents has increased transmission through non-vectorial routes, such as blood transfusion, congenital transmission, organ transplants and oral transmission by contaminated food.