Open AccessRoadblocks in Chagas disease care in endemic and nonendemic countries: Argentina, Colombia, Spain, and the United States. The NET-Heart project
Author(s) -
Andrés F. Miranda-Arboleda,
Ezequiel Zaidel,
Rachel Marcus,
María Jesús Pinazo,
Luis Eduardo Echeverría,
Clara Saldarriaga,
Álvaro Sosa Liprandi,
Adrián Baranchuk,
AUTHOR_ID
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
plos neglected tropical diseases
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.99
H-Index - 135
eISSN - 1935-2735
pISSN - 1935-2727
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pntd.0009954
Subject(s) - latin americans , medicine , public health , neglected tropical diseases , chagas disease , health care , disease , global health , environmental health , economic growth , political science , immunology , nursing , pathology , economics , law
Background Chagas disease (CD) is endemic in Latin America; however, its spread to nontropical areas has raised global interest in this condition. Barriers in access to early diagnosis and treatment of both acute and chronic infection and their complications have led to an increasing disease burden outside of Latin America. Our goal was to identify those barriers and to perform an additional analysis of them based on the Inter American Society of Cardiology (SIAC) and the World Heart Federation (WHF) Chagas Roadmap, at a country level in Argentina, Colombia, Spain, and the United States, which serve as representatives of endemic and nonendemic countries. Methodology and principal findings This is a nonsystematic review of articles published in indexed journals from 1955 to 2021 and of gray literature (local health organizations guidelines, local policies, blogs, and media). We classified barriers to access care as (i) existing difficulties limiting healthcare access; (ii) lack of awareness about CD and its complications; (iii) poor transmission control (vectorial and nonvectorial); (iv) scarce availability of antitrypanosomal drugs; and (v) cultural beliefs and stigma. Region-specific barriers may limit the implementation of roadmaps and require the application of tailored strategies to improve access to appropriate care. Conclusions Multiple barriers negatively impact the prognosis of CD. Identification of these roadblocks both nationally and globally is important to guide development of appropriate policies and public health programs to reduce the global burden of this disease.