It is estimated that over 1 billion of the world’s most disadvantaged and poor people suffer from at least one neglected tropical disease (NTD), which can significantly affect their physical and emotional wellbeing.

In Mozambique, an estimated 17 million people are infected by lymphatic filariasis caused by worms, with nearly 40,000 people having chronic conditions*. These victims need to be detected and treated, and the role of the local community is fundamental in supporting sufferers.

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) supports a large-scale NTD programme in Mozambique. The school has commissioned Aid Works to develop a set of easy-to-use training materials for a community-based scheme that supports the detection and management of filarial parasites.

LSTM, working with the Ministry of Health in Mozambique, will dramatically increase the number of people who know about about the disease and know how to support early detection of victims. Watch the short clip above which explains the scheme (the clip and all the training materials are available in both English and Portuguese).

Imagine if this simple scheme could detect all those infected by implementing it over the whole of Mozambique?

*Data provided by Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine