Article
Hazards of setting targets to eliminate disease: lessons from the leprosy elimination campaign
Registro en:
LOCKWOOD, Diana N. J.; SHETTY, Vanaja; PENNA, Gerson Oliveira. Hazards of setting targets to eliminate disease: lessons from the leprosy elimination campaign. British Medical Journal, [London], v. 384, n. g1136, p.1-5, fev. 2014.
0007-0769
10.1136/bmj.g1136
Autor
Lockwood, Diana N.
Shetty, Vanaja
Penna, Gerson Oliveira
Resumen
Gerson Oliveira Penna - Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Fiocruz Brasília. Brasília, DF, Brasil. Documento produzido em parceria ou por autor vinculado à Fiocruz, mas não consta à informação no documento. Elimination of a disease sounds attractive, but as the recent
re-emergence of polio has shown, it is difficult to accomplish.
As part of its roadmap for reducing the burden of neglected
tropical diseases, the World Health Organization has identified
five diseases for elimination by 2015 and a further eight by
2020.1 Although setting these ambitious targets has the potential
to focus money and resources, unless the targets are realistic
they can have unforeseen consequences. We use the experience
of the 1991 campaign to eliminate leprosy to show how targets
can end up causing harm to patients.