The campaign “Not a single baby with Chagas Disease” takes the commitment of making this unjust disease visible so that all the babies born with Chagas disease, contracted by transmission during pregnancy from the infected mother, and all the women in childbearing age have access to diagnosis and treatment.
Because of the progress made in vector and transfusion transmission control, one of the most important transmission routes is currently the vertical or congenital one, i.e. an infected mother can transmit Chagas to her child during pregnancy. Each year 9,000 infected babies are born, one each hour, and most of them do not get access to diagnosis or treatment. For this reason, the target of the campaign is not a single baby born with Chagas disease by 2030, i.e., we aim that 100% of women of childbearing age have been diagnosed and treated.
Mundo Sano presented a Commitment and invites different organizations and personalities to take on to it in order to change the reality of this disease. As Silvia Gold, President of the Foundation, states: “Today, we are at a new stage because we have the diagnosis and treatment tools, and because there are scientific consensus, besides clinical guides supported by the WHO, that demonstrated that treatment works, especially in children, young people and women of childbearing age”.
Chagas disease is globally distributed at present, with 8 million people affected, of which 1.2 million are women of childbearing age. And each year, 9,000 babies are born with the disease. In Argentina, 7 million people are estimated to be at risk of becoming infected, and 1.6 million people are already infected; in turn, given the recent migratory movements, there are between 50,000 and 100,000 infected people in Spain and 300,000 in the United States.
With this campaign, Mundo Sano is commited to contribute to the elimination of Chagas disease. “Chagas disease is a public health issue that involves all of us as society. Recent studies have demonstrated that diagnosis and treatment of girls and women of childbearing age are efficient preventive measures of congenital transmission; for this reason, there is nothing more unjust than a baby affected by a disease that can be treated”, Gold pointed out.
Not a Single Baby with Chagas Disease is focused on the control of mother-to-child transmission, in line with the strategies of the World health Organization (WHO) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). This project aims at achievable health goals in 2030, as is planned in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
With the challenge of achieving the goal that all the babies born to mothers with Chagas disease and all women in childbearing age have access to diagnosis and treatment, we made ningunbebeconchagas.com available, where anyone willing to help and sign the commitment can do it so that “Not a Single Baby with Chagas disease” becomes real by 2030.
