In a village, a nurse has found a swollen gland in a young woman's neck.
Mapping and tracking transmission until the elimination of human African trypanosomiasis
The epidemiological scenario of human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) is dynamic. The geographical distribution of transmission is mostly clustered in foci, growing in the absence of control activities, and decreasing or even stopping when interventions are consistent. Epidemic outbreaks can occur. To track it all down, WHO systematically collects information around every HAT case detected worldwide, in endemic and non-endemic countries, actively and passively, and records all case-finding activities carried out per village. The data are centralized in the HAT Atlas database, georeferenced at the village level and aggregated by year.
The HAT Atlas, maintained in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), contains complete information since the year 2000 from the 25 countries reporting cases.
This tool allows assessment of epidemiological trends to guide interventional decisions and to evaluate the quality and impact of control activities per country.
At global level, progress towards the 2020 and 2030 goals of HAT elimination is monitored through established indicators (number of cases, at-risk area, at-risk population, geographical distribution, surveillance coverage, access to treatment). At local level, national programmes are equipped, and staff receive training in mapping and listing villages that require intervention every year.
