Leishmaniasis: strengthening cross-border collaboration for control in Central Asian and Middle Eastern countries of the WHO European and Eastern Mediterranean Regions

Overview

Leishmaniasis is endemic in countries of central Asia and the Middle East. One of the challenges to control of the disease in those countries is the movement of populations across the borders into neighbouring countries. At the initiative of the Innovative and Intensified Disease Management unit, WHO Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases, and the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean and the WHO Regional Office for Europe in collaboration with the Ministry of Health of Turkmenistan, a meeting was held on 18–20 November 2014 in Awaza, Turkmenbashi, Turkmenistan, on strengthening cross-border collaboration for leishmaniasis control in central Asian and middle-eastern countries.

The objectives of the meeting were:

• to revisit the area-specific disease-related strategies focused on updating information on leishmaniasis in each country and review the progress of and challenges to control in neighbouring countries of the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region and the WHO European Region;
• to identify major cross-border issues and areas of collaboration for improved leishmaniasis control;
• to share experiences on surveillance and control of leishmaniasis;
• to discuss the country-specific adaptation and implementation plan of the recently published leishmaniasis control strategic framework of both Regions;
• to formulate the needs of and recommendations by country of the sub-region for increasing alerts for the disease and implementing appropriate control measures.