Frank is talking about the neglected tropical diseases (NTDs)
Frank is talking about the neglected tropical diseases (NTDs)

Lab Seminar - Cost-effective treatment of environmentally transmitted diseases: combining drug and environmental treatments

François Castonguay presented his research on treatment policies against environmentally transmitted diseases(ETDs). This work is a collaboration with Professor Jim Sanchirico. This paper investigates trade-offs between drug and environmental treatments in the fight against environmentally transmitted neglected tropical diseases. They use optimal control techniques where the finite period objective is to treat the disease at the lowest possible total cost, where the costs include treatment, transportation, and damages (reduction in human health). The authors show that combining environmental treatments to drug treatments implies a reduced dependency to mass drug administrations and that it does not require additional expenditures, but instead a redistribution of funds from drug treatment to environmental treatment. Their results suggest that environmentally transmitted diseases require integrated treatment guidelines for drug and environmental controls.