On April 14th, World Chagas Disease Day, Unitaid joins the organizations, health professionals and advocates fighting Chagas disease in highlighting the urgent need to address this often-overlooked illness. Echoing this year’s theme, “Prevent, control, care: everyone’s role in Chagas disease,” we reaffirm our commitment to fighting this “silent disease” which affects over 7 million people globally, primarily in Latin America, and leads to approximately 10,000 deaths annually.
Caused by the Trypanosoma cruzi parasite and primarily spread by triatomine “kissing bugs,” Chagas disease can also be transmitted from mother to child at birth and through infected food or blood. While often initially asymptomatic, untreated Chagas can lead to severe, life-threatening complications years later. Though endemic to Latin America, Chagas disease has become a global health concern detected in 44 countries. Critically, fewer than 10% of those infected are diagnosed and only 1% receive treatment.
Unitaid is tackling the diagnostic gap by integrating Chagas prevention and care into maternal and child efforts and improving the use of rapid diagnostic tests to make testing quick and easier in remote areas.
Our strategy for tackling Chagas transmission relies on a number of strong partnerships. The Unitaid-funded CUIDA Chagas project, led by Fiocruz in Brazil and partners in Bolivia, Colombia and Paraguay, generates vital evidence on simplified testing and treatment strategies for women and newborns, advancing vertical transmission elimination through research and innovation. Alongside this, our collaboration with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) helps leverage these learnings to scale up regional efforts, informing policy and speeding up access to better tools and care across the Americas.
We champion integrating Chagas services into primary healthcare and maternal care. This includes boosting access to underutilized tools like rapid tests and pediatric treatments, demonstrating effective integrated models, overcoming market barriers, and building community demand for improved, equitable health outcomes.
Making Chagas a disease of the past requires collective action. On this World Chagas Disease Day, Unitaid calls for sustained political will, increased funding and strengthened collaboration between governments, health providers, communities and global partners. By prioritizing early diagnosis, integrating care and empowering communities through meaningful engagement, we can protect mothers and ensure newborns across Latin America and beyond are born free from Chagas disease, and make significant strides towards the elimination of vertical transmission, a cornerstone of comprehensive Chagas control.
About Unitaid
Unitaid is a global health organization that saves lives by making new health products available and affordable for people in low- and middle-income countries. Unitaid works with partners to identify innovative treatments, tests and tools, help tackle the market barriers that are holding them back, and get them to the people who need them most – fast. Since Unitaid was created in 2006, the organization has unlocked access to more than 100 groundbreaking health products to help address the world’s biggest health challenges, including HIV, TB and malaria; women’s and children’s health; and pandemic prevention, preparedness and response. Every year, more than 300 million people benefit from the products Unitaid has helped roll out. Unitaid is hosted by the World Health Organization. www.unitaid.org
Kyle Wilkinson
Communications Officer, Unitaid
+41 79 445 17 45
wilkinsonk@unitaid.who.int
