05.08.2024
The Vice-Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, through the Public Lectures Committee invites the Academic Community and the general public to a Professorial Inaugural Lecture of Professor Alexander Yaw Debrah scheduled as follows:
Abstract of the Lecture
Topic: “Eliminating Filarial Diseases: A New Hope for an Old Battle”
Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) are a group of infectious diseases that affect about 1.3 billion people in the world but are mainly prevalent in tropical or sub-tropical areas. They thrive among people living in impoverished communities. There are about 20 of NTDs across the world but mainly in hard-to-reach areas of Asia, Latin America and Africa. NTDs are mainly caused by organisms such as parasites, viruses, fungi and bacteria. They either disfigure or disable their victims, keep children out of school, and parents out of work, thereby limiting their potential and leaving communities in a cycle of poverty. Notable among the NTDs are lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis), onchocerciasis (river blindness), buruli ulcer, leprosy, dengue, chikungunya, Guinea worm disease, sleeping sickness, rabies and scabies.
Filarial diseases are parasitic diseases caused by round worms called filarial worms. The main ones are lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis), onchocerciasis (river blindness), loaisis (African eye worm) and mansonellosis. Lymphatic filariasis (LF) and river blindness are the two main filarial parasitic diseases posing significant public health challenges in Africa and other tropical regions. They affect about 140 million people worldwide. These worms are transmitted by blood-feeding insects, leading to chronic and prolonged infections that result in disabilities such as scrotal swelling (hydrocele) and lymph swelling (lymphedema), which could progress to elephantiasis of the scrotum or the legs. LF is transmitted by Anopheles mosquitoes (the same mosquitoes that transmit malaria parasites) across sub-Saharan Africa. About 25 million men are suffering from scrotal swelling and 15 million from elephantiasis.
River blindness, on the other hand, afflicts people living along the banks of major rivers. It is transmitted by infected blackflies called the Simulium, that breed in fast-flowing rivers near remote rural villages. River blindness is characterized by severe itching, disfiguring skin conditions, visual impairment and permanent blindness. Over 99% of the people at risk of river blindness live in 31 countries in Africa. Globally, it is estimated that there are 18 million people infected and 270,000 blinded by river blindness.
There are four major obstacles hindering the effort to control and eliminate filarial diseases. These are (1) Lack of effective treatment for these diseases due to lack of drugs that can kill the adult worms, (2) Lack of understanding of the mechanisms that lead to the development of elephantiasis and hydrocele, (3) Lack of effective tools to report elephantiasis and hydrocele cases for efficient morbidity management, and (4) Lack of sensitive diagnostic tools for the detection of the diseases. These obstacles need to be addressed to be able to eliminate filarial diseases.
The lecture will show how through local and collaborative research and partnership, my research has been able to (1) use innovative means to identify a cheap and registered drug to kill the filarial adult worms which consequently led to finding of new regimens for treating elephantiasis and river blindness in Ghana, (2) unravel the complex mechanisms that lead to the development of hydrocele and elephantiasis of the legs, (3) use digital and mobile health technologies to reach elephantiasis and hydrocele patients in the remotest villages in Ghana for management and (4) demonstrate some problems associated with the current diagnostic tools and what is being done to improve upon their sensitivities and accuracy.
The lecture will touch on some key human and infrastructure capacity built to sustain the research, and the control and elimination of filarial diseases in Ghana.
The lecture will also touch on some of my ongoing research work such as: (1) the use of alternative strategies to accelerate the elimination of lymphatic filariasis and river blindness in Ghana by 2030 using the “Test and treat approach” (2) elucidating antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in infected skin wounds of elephantiasis patients during acute attacks, (3) expanding the digital and mobile health technologies to other NTDs such as yaws, leprosy and buruli ulcer, and (4) why COVID-19 was not too devasting in African population compared to the advanced world due to the presence of some helminthic infections in Africa (SARS-CoV-2 and helminth coinfection).
The lecture will conclude by proffering some relevant recommendations and policy advice such as: measures to take to eliminate NTDs in Ghana and Africa in order to achieve SDG 3 and other SDGs, measures to take to prevent recrudescence of the diseases in previously infected but now free areas; how policy makers can work with researchers and the academic institutions to eliminate NTDs in Ghana and Africa, and the need to include lymphedema patients on the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme to improve the quality of life in order to achieve universal health coverage.
Profile of Professor Alexander Yaw Debrah
BSc. & MPhil. (Kumasi); PhD (Kumasi & Bonn)
Dean, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, KNUST
