Policy and Executive Barriers in Preventing and Eradicating Neglected Tropical Diseases: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Background: Tropical diseases inflict many of those living in tropical and subtropical areas each year. These populations because of these diseases suffer considerable financial and human losses. Some of these diseases are known as Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) and they can be highly dangerous. Still, they have not received the attention they need. Given the necessity of eliminating these diseases, the present study is an attempt to examine the reasons for unsuccessful attempts to eliminate diseases like NTDs.

Methods: The current study was a systematic analysis of literature on neglected tropical diseases that were found in the databases of the Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct, Pro Quest, Cochrane, and Embase before April 2023. The Critical Appraisal Skills Program (CASP) for articles and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) criteria were used to conduct the study.

Results: Based on the systematic search, 3193 papers were found and after the elimination of duplicates and irrelevant ones, a total of 28 articles remained to examine the challenges to eradicate neglected tropical diseases. Four themes were found for the challenges of controlling and eliminating neglected tropic diseases including drawbacks of programs for disease management policies, environmental challenges, executive challenges, and research field challenges. Thirty-six subthemes were obtained in this study, which showed cases such as the presence of immigrants and refugees, weaknesses in public health infrastructure and programs, dynamic epidemiological settings, lack of executive prioritization appropriate to endemic countries, and highly customized research infrastructures. Ending neglected tropical diseases requires an innovative roadmap and global cooperation.

Conclusions: To achieve important eradication goals, measures such as acceleration in practice are needed to plan, intensify executive and operational approaches, change application models, innovate processes, and promote culture are needed. In addition, to make possible the elimination of neglected tropical diseases, there is an undeniable need for providing financial, human, and research resources. In addition, there is a need for efficient health infrastructure management, paying attention to migrants and refugees, setting explicit targets, prioritizing based on local conditions, and paying more attention to political and social developments.

Keywords: Eradicate; NTD; neglected diseases; neglected tropical disease; prevent; rare diseases.

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Article selection flowchart