by Costa Chaves G, Abi-Saab Arrieche M, Rode J, Mechali D, Ouverney Reis P, Alves RV, Stobbaerts E, Girón Aguilar N, Ribeiro I. Pan American Journal of Public Health, 2017;41:e45.
Summary: This paper describes a tool which was developed to estimate demand for benznidazole and nifurtimox to treat Chagas disease, and reports on its implementation in a group of Latin American countries. The tool was adapted by representatives of the control programs in order to plan drug procurement for 2012 and 2013. Further analysis of the obtained data showed that it is possible to provide benznidazole to less than 1% of people for whom treatment is indicated. The authors conclude that the development and systematic use of demand management tools can play a key role in helping to provide access to the anti-Chagas drugs, and that there is a significant gap between the projected demand for drugs and current estimates of prevalence rates.
