Project Lead(s): Pradeep Das
Visceral leishmaniasis is a neglected infectious disease of poverty in Bihar India. Many people die from this disease because they do not receive the available diagnosis and treatment. In 2011, Grand Challenges Canada supported this novel project to train village Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) to identify and refer individuals with VL for point-of-care diagnostics and treatment at primary health centres. The approach was able to achieve significant results: it saved the lives of 110 people and has contributed to a major reduction of VL in four Primary Health Centres (PHCs) to date.
Grand Challenges Canada and the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology (India), have agreed to accelerate efforts to eliminate visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in Bihar, India. DBT and Grand Challenges Canada will jointly invest $465,000 in ASHA training in 25 highly endemic PHCs and case tracking in 5 PHCs.