Human African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness) is a neglected tropical disease considered as lethal without treatment. It is found in sub-Saharan countries with a patchy distribution in foci. Many of these foci are in remote rural areas with difficult access to health services, such that treatment of patients with human African trypanosomiasis often relies on limited human and material resources.
After inclusion of the nifurtimox-eflornithine combination therapy (NECT) in the Model List of Essential Medicines for the treatment of second-stage gambiense human African trypanosomiasis, WHO, in collaboration with national sleeping sickness control programmes and nongovernmental organizations set up a pharmacovigilance system to assess the safety and efficacy of NECT during its routine use.
