Overview

Decisions to resume community-based activities require context-specific risk-benefit analyses taking into account the local epidemiology of COVID-19 and NTDs and the local capacity to undertake the work safely and effectively. To support rational decision-making, a number of questions may be important, including:

• How long can interventions against NTDs be postponed before progress towards the 2030 NTD targets is adversely affected?
• In which settings will delay-related impacts be greatest? In particular, how are impacts influenced by baseline NTD endemicity, treatment history and programme stage?
• Can any remedial strategies be implemented once community-based activities resume, which could help to regain ground lost to COVID-19-related programme interruptions and minimize the risks of resurgence of infection and disease?

WHO has collaborated with the NTD Modelling Consortium (https://www.ntdmodelling.org/) to develop scenarios to assess the impact of programme disruptions and to help formulate remedial strategies that could help programmes get back on target. This report presents initial results for five NTDs in which mass treatment of entire or targeted populations (often referred to as “preventive chemotherapy”) is used: lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis, soil-transmitted helminthiases and trachoma. It also presents initial results for two NTDs for which individual-level screening and treatment is critical: gambiense human African trypanosomiasis and visceral leishmaniasis. For visceral leishmaniasis, only the situation in the Indian subcontinent has been considered.