EARLY DIAGNOSIS, TREATMENT AND FOLLOW-UP
#WorldChagasDay #Chagas
World Chagas Disease Day is observed annually on April 14 to increase awareness about this neglected disease. It is considered neglected because it receives little attention on the public health agenda. The World Health Assembly at WHO approved and endorsed on May 2019, with the first celebration held on April 14, 2020.
World Chagas Day aims to raise awareness of Chagas disease, improve early detection, expand diagnostic coverage, and provide equitable access to clinical care.
Theme 2024: Early diagnosis, treatment and follow-up. Raise awareness among patients, their families and health workers about the need for early (timely) diagnosis and lifelong follow-up of people affected by the disease.
KEY MESSAGES
Screening and treatment of girls and women of childbearing age, along with screening of newborns of infected mothers, is essential to stop transplacental congenital transmission of the infection.
Chagas disease can be cured if the treatment (benznidazole or nifurtimox) is administered in the acute phase of the disease, shortly after the initial infection occurs, or when it is administered to children. In the chronic phase of the disease in adults, antiparasitic treatment can improve the progression of the condition.
Follow-up: Lifelong accompaniment +
The patient as a carrier of chronic infection must be followed by the health system, in order to detect early possible evolutions of organ damage and thus treat them appropriately.
WEB BANNER AND CONCEPT NOTE
EDUCATIONAL VIDEOS
The Silent Disease
How Chagas disease is tranmitted
Congenital transmission of Chagas Disease
Chagas Disease: Blood Transfusion
Transmission of Chagas disease from rural areas to urban areas
PAHO seeks to end
more than 30
communicable diseases
and related conditions by 2030
