The NGDI wishes them every success and will post a report of the project in the fall.

Dr. Carol Dahl, Director of Staff for the Global Health Program, works as a deputy to the President, Global Health, to facilitate progress and performance against Global Health’s priorities. She also serves as a liaison for the Program team in the fields of science and technology . In addition, she  partners with the Global Health Strategy team in shaping the foundation’s overall global health strategies. Dahl was previously Director, Global Health Discovery.

This free symposium is filling up fast: register today!

The project aims to evaluate the effectiveness, cost and acceptability of an Eco-Bio-Social approach to controlling and preventing Dengue in Ecuador, in comparison to traditional insecticide-based control programs. Dengue is a neglected mosquito-borne viral disease, for which there is no vaccine. The Eco-Bio-Social approach includes a school-based anti-dengue education campaign, a safe water storage and clean patio community campaign and anti-dengue community workshops. Universidad Andina de Simon Bolivar will collaborate with UBC, BCCDC and the Universidad Tecnica de Machala to undertake this project funded by the WHO TDR Special Programme for Research on Diseases of Poverty.

Kendra Foster, a UBC PhD student has received a 3 year Best & Banting graduate scholarship from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to Work on the project for her dissertation.

Spiegel JM, Dharamsi S, Wasan KM, Yassi A, Singer B, et al. 2010 Which New Approaches to Tackling Neglected Tropical Diseases Show Promise?. PLoS Med 7(5): e1000255. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000255

Public health and international development experts at the University of British Columbia are calling for a “social offset” mechanism to set aside a portion of research funding slated for neglected tropical diseases (NTD) to address broader social determinants of disease.

Their comments are published today alongside other perspectives in the Debate section of the online journal PLoS Medicine.

More than one billion people suffer from one or more of approximately 15 tropical infections identified by the World Health Organization as NTDs. These diseases disproportionately impact poor and rural populations, mostly in the developing world, who lack access to safe water, adequate sanitation and essential medicines.

>>See commentary on article in The Scientist.

“NTD initiatives have primarily aimed to stimulate drug development by offering incentives for pharmaceutical companies to produce essential medicines for vulnerable populations,” says Jerry Spiegel, director of Global Health at UBC’s Liu Institute for Global Studies and lead author of the article.

“These initiatives have largely ignored other manifestations of neglect, such as weak health systems and poor socio-environmental conditions that cause and perpetuate NTDs.”

Spiegel and colleagues from UBC’s faculties of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences and the College for Interdisciplinary Studies are proposing a model of “offsetting” – similar to carbon offsets for air travel – to help fund infrastructure and healthcare needs that complement increased access to drugs.

“Nobody questions the need for better drugs for visceral leishmaniasis, a parasitic disease that affects 12 million people worldwide,” says co-author and UBC Pharmaceutical Sciences Prof. Kishor Wasan. “But currently, 66 per cent of U.S. research funding for leishmaniasis is devoted to basic and biomedical research and product development, compared to 3.7 per cent for epidemiological research and 7.1 per cent for implementation research.”

Wasan is inventor of an oral formulation of Amphotericin B, an anti-fungal drug commonly used to treat leishmaniasis but remains prohibitive in developing countries due to its intravenous delivery requirements. His drug is the first to be licensed under UBC’s Global Access Initiative, which works with researchers and industry partners to provide underserved populations with access to UBC technologies.

“But merely providing incentives to increase access to drugs isn’t enough,” say Wasan. “That’s why we have created the Neglected Global Diseases Initiative at UBC to explicitly expanded our focus beyond ‘drug development and delivery’ to ‘effective disease-reducing interventions.”

Other UBC co-authors are Shafik Dharamsi, faculty lead of the Global Health Network at the Liu Institute and spearheading UBC’s Ethical International Service Learning initiative, and Annalee Yassi, Canada Research Chair in Global Health and Capacity Building.

In addition to the UBC researchers’ viewpoint, Burton Singer of the Emerging Pathogens Institute at the University of Florida argues in the same article that the recent designation of a set of tropical diseases as “neglected” has led to strategies for control that are “overmedicalized,” while Peter Hotez of George Washington University and colleagues maintain the best return on investment will continue to be mass drug administration for NTDs.

About UBC’s Global Access Initiative
In 2007, UBC became the first university in Canada to develop a strategy for enhancing global access to its technologies. UBC’s University-Industry Liaison Office and the UBC Chapter of the student group Universities Allied for Essential Medicines worked to formalize the practice of developing technologies consistent with the needs and interests of the developing world. For more information, visit www.uilo.ubc.ca/global.asp.

About UBC’s Neglected Global Diseases Initiative
The Neglected Global Diseases Initiative at UBC (NGDI-UBC) aims to bring together the technical expertise and perspectives of a variety of disciplines at UBC – including bench science, pharmaceutical and health research, business, social policy, and law – to develop interventions for neglected global diseases and ensure their delivery to those in need. For more information about NGDI-UBC and the First Annual Symposium on Neglected Global Diseases at UBC in September, 2010, visit www.ngdi-ubc.com.

Dr. Martin is a Senior Project Manager, Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative, Geneva.  Dr. Martin joined DNDi in September 2006 as a senior project manager focusing on discovery and preclinical stage projects.  His colleague, Dr. Rachel Kidell-Monroe will also be speaking. 

Dr. Richard Kohl is a Technical Director at Management Systems International focusing on the firm’s Scaling Up practice area. He has over 15 years experience in economic policy reform, governance and implementing policy change.

Dr. Thomas Kanyok of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has notified us that he will be unable to attend the Symposium this year and Dr. Nigel Fisher, President & CEO of Unicef Canada has graciously stepped in to be our new Keynote Speaker.

Jocelyn’s office has been generously provided by NGDI’s partner organization the University Industry Liaison Office on Agronomy Road.

Jocelyn’s main responsibilities will be to provide program support, coordinate the NGDI’s upcoming Symposium, generate funding opportunities and liaison with NGDI’s partners and members.  Jocelyn may be reached at 604-827-5348 or by email at Jocelyn.Conway@ubc.ca.

Biography

Jocelyn Conway received her B.A. in Psychology in 2003 from Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC.   In 2005, she was hired as Community Coordinator for a large scale RCT evaluating the efficacy of new prevention materials called the Period of PURPLE Crying.   These materials were developed by UBC’s Dr. Ronald G. Barr, Head, Developmental Neurosciences and Child Health and the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome, USA.  With the successful outcome of the research these materials received funding for implementation by the BC Ministry of Children and Family Development.

As Provincial Coordinator of Prevent Shaken Baby Syndrome BC from 2007-2010, Jocelyn helped to implement the integration of these new materials into the health care system in BC.  All new parents now receive these evidence-based shaken baby syndrome prevention materials before leaving hospital.  Some other key projects Jocelyn worked on were: coordinating the translation of these materials into nine languages, liaising with the Ministry of Children and Family Development to train social workers and foster parents, and coordinating the Second BC Symposium on Shaken Baby Syndrome.

Previous to 2005 Jocelyn worked for the Forensic Psychiatric Commission, Riverview Hospital and The Mental Health Law & Policy Institute at Simon Fraser University.