Skip to 0 minutes and 9 seconds VANESSA YARDLEY: According to the latest World Health Organisation figures, over half a billion people are at risk of being infected with the disease called visceral leishmaniasis. It is a disease that typically affects the poor and other vulnerable groups and it is a disease that is invariably fatal if untreated. So what can we do about visceral leishmaniasis? Well, there are diagnostics available and treatments that can be used that give complete recovery. Other tools exist to enable control of visceral leishmaniasis and reduce the burden of disease in the human populations affected. I’m Vanessa Yardley, Assistant Professor
Skip to 0 minutes and 50 seconds SIMON CROFT: and I’m Simon Croft, Professor of parasitology here, at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. We’re the lead educators for this course. Our institute is a world-famous centre of excellence in the field of tropical medicine and public health and has particular expertise in neglected tropical disease research. As part of a group of scientists and clinicians working on visceral leishmaniasis, we are able to call on their knowledge and experience to contribute to this course. The school is also a lead partner in the UK aid-funded KalaCORE programme, which is supporting this course.
Skip to 1 minute and 28 seconds VANESSA YARDLEY: Over the course of four weeks, we will cover the basic biology of the parasite that causes visceral leishmaniasis, the sand-fly that transmits the parasite, and the distribution and burden of the disease. We will introduce you to the methods to diagnose and treat VL in disease endemic countries. We will then discuss the different methods involved in the control of VL and give practical advice on how to approach disease control.
Skip to 1 minute and 56 seconds SIMON CROFT: We will lead you through a series of videos, articles, and interviews, which will include contributions from experts on visceral leishmaniasis; experts who are trained in public health, in treatment, and disease control in South Asia and East Africa. We’ve designed the course to inform people who are directly involved with the control of leishmaniasis. By bringing together all aspects of VL control and elimination, we anticipate the course will be relevant to health workers and other stakeholders with an interest in the control and elimination of visceral leishmaniasis.
