On the Chagas World Day, Mundo Sano Foundation its commitment to the World Health Organization (WHO) to accelerate the elimination of infection with Chagas disease in children and to prevent congenital transmission in pregnant women.
Mundo Sano, together with Insud Pharma, will provide the WHO with 108,000 benznidazole tablets, the medicine for the etiological treatment of Chagas disease. “Our foundation has been developing a huge task regarding Chagas disease, and this Cooperation Agreement with the WHO to facilitate the access to treatment of congenital Chagas cases renews the commitment that not a single baby will be born with Chagas disease by 2030”, Marcelo Abril, chief executive officer of Mundo Sano, asserts.
Between 6 and 8 million people are estimated to be affected by Chagas disease worldwide, of which 1.2 million people are women of childbearing age; each year, 9 thousand babies are born with Chagas disease in the world due to mother-to-child transmission.
Dr. Mwele Ntuli Malecela, Director of the WHO Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases, stresses the importance of “making benznidazole freely available for the treatment of newborns and children, since it saves future generation from developing the disease and contributes to congenital Chagas disease elimination”.
In addition, Dr. Pedro Albajar Vinas, Medical Officer, WHO Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases, states that “screening pregnant women who are at risk of infection and who have not been previously treated with antiparasitic medication provides an excellent opportunity for prevention of posterior transmission throughout pregnancy and birth”.