As part of a World Health Organization-led effort to update the empirical evidence base for the leishmaniases, national experts provided leishmaniasis case data for the last 5 years and information regarding treatment and control in their respective countries and a comprehensive literature review was conducted covering publications on leishmaniasis in 98 regional level between 2007 and 2011. Two questionnaires regarding epidemiology and drug access were completed by experts and national program managers. Visceral and cutaneous leishmaniasis incidence ranges were estimated by country and epidemiological region based on reported incidence, underreporting rates if available, and the judgment of national and international experts. Based on these estimates, approximately 0.2 to 0.4 cases and 0.7 to 1.2 million VL and CL cases, respectively, occur each year. More than 90% of global VL cases occur in six countries: India, Bangladesh, Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Brazil. Cutaneous leishmaniasis is more widely distributed, with about one-third of cases occurring in each of three epidemiological regions, the Americas, the Mediterranean basin, and western Asia from the Middle East to Central Asia. The ten countries with the highest estimated case counts, Afghanistan, Algeria, Colombia, Brazil, Iran, Syria, Ethiopia, North Sudan, Costa Rica and Peru, together account for 70 to 75% of global estimated CL incidence. Mortality data were extremely sparse and generally represent hospital-based deaths only. Using an overall case-fatality rate of 10%, we reach a tentative estimate of 20,000 to 40,000 leishmaniasis deaths per year. Although the information is very poor in a number of countries, this is the first in-depth exercise to better estimate the real impact of leishmaniasis. These data should help to define control strategies and reinforce leishmaniasis advocacy. Funding: The Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development (AECID) has provided generous support to the WHO Leishmaniasis program since 2005. This support permitted among many other activities regional meetings with the AFRO, EURO, PAHO and SEARO countries, and provided for short term contracts for IDV, MdB, MH and JS related to the preparation of the country profiles. Sanofi provided a grant for a regional meeting with the EMRO countries and various activities related to the control of cutaneous Leishmaniasis in the EMRO region. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. * E-mail: alvarj@who.int . These authors contributed equally to this work " For a full list of the members of the WHO Leishmaniasis Control Team please see the Acknowledgments section.

/pdf/leishmaniasis-worldwide-and-global-estimates-of-its-3u3xol0yef.pdf

Leishmaniasis Worldwide and Global Estimates of Its Incidence

Background: The American Heart Association, in conjunction with the National Institutes of Health, annually reports the most up-to-date statistics related to heart disease, stroke, and cardiovascul...

Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics-2021 Update: A Report From the American Heart Association.

https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(05)67629-5.pdf

Advances in leishmaniasis.

The American Heart Association, in conjunction with the National Institutes of Health, annually reports the most up-to-date statistics related to heart disease, stroke, and cardiovascular risk factors, including core health behaviors (smoking, physical activity, diet, and weight) and health factors (cholesterol, blood pressure, and glucose control) that contribute to cardiovascular health. The Statistical Update presents the latest data on a range of major clinical heart and circulatory disease conditions (including stroke, congenital heart disease, rhythm disorders, subclinical atherosclerosis, coronary heart disease, heart failure, valvular disease, venous disease, and peripheral artery disease) and the associated outcomes (including quality of care, procedures, and economic costs).The American Heart Association, through its Statistics Committee, continuously monitors and evaluates sources of data on heart disease and stroke in the United States to provide the most current information available in the annual Statistical Update. The 2022 Statistical Update is the product of a full year's worth of effort by dedicated volunteer clinicians and scientists, committed government professionals, and American Heart Association staff members. This year's edition includes data on the monitoring and benefits of cardiovascular health in the population and an enhanced focus on social determinants of health, adverse pregnancy outcomes, vascular contributions to brain health, and the global burden of cardiovascular disease and healthy life expectancy.Each of the chapters in the Statistical Update focuses on a different topic related to heart disease and stroke statistics.The Statistical Update represents a critical resource for the lay public, policymakers, media professionals, clinicians, health care administrators, researchers, health advocates, and others seeking the best available data on these factors and conditions. 

https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1161/CIR.0000000000001052

Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics—2022 Update: A Report From the American Heart Association

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a systemic protozoan disease that is transmitted by phlebotomine sandflies. Poor and neglected populations in East Africa and the Indian sub-continent are particularly affected. Early and accurate diagnosis and treatment remain key components of VL control. In addition to improved diagnostic tests, accurate and simple tests are needed to identify treatment failures. Miltefosine, paromomycin and liposomal amphotericin B are gradually replacing pentavalent antimonials and conventional amphotericin B as the preferred treatments in some regions, but in other areas these drugs are still being evaluated in both mono- and combination therapies. New diagnostic tools and new treatment strategies will only have an impact if they are made widely available to patients.

http://www.bio.umass.edu/micro/klingbeil/590s/Reading/Leishdiag2007.pdf

Visceral leishmaniasis: what are the needs for diagnosis, treatment and control?

In June 2011, the Advisory Committee on Immunizations Practices (ACIP) recommended 1 dose of a tetanus, diphtheria, and acellular pertussis (Tdap) vaccine during pregnancy for women who had not received Tdap previously. Before 2011, Tdap was recommended for unvaccinated women either before pregnancy or postpartum. In October 2012, ACIP expanded the 2011 recommendation, advising pregnant women to be vaccinated with Tdap during each pregnancy to provide maternal antibodies for each infant. The optimal time for vaccination is at 27-36 weeks' gestation as recommended by ACIP. In response to ACIP's Tdap recommendation for pregnant women in 2011, CDC added a supplemental question to the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) survey to determine women's Tdap vaccination status before, during, or after their most recent delivery. This report describes overall and state-specific Tdap vaccination coverage around the time of pregnancy using data from 6,852 sampled women who delivered a live-born infant during September-December 2011 in one of 16 states or New York City (NYC). Among the 17 jurisdictions, the median percentage of women with live births who reported any Tdap vaccination was 55.7%, ranging from 38.2% in NYC to 76.6% in Nebraska. The median percentage who received Tdap before pregnancy was 13.9% (range = 7.7%-20.1%), during pregnancy was 9.8% (range = 3.8%-14.2%), and after delivery was 30.9% (range = 13.6%-46.5%). The PRAMS data indicate a wide variation in Tdap vaccination coverage among demographic groups, with generally higher postpartum coverage for non-Hispanic white women, those who started prenatal care in the first trimester, and those who had private health insurance coverage. This information can be used for promoting evidence-based strategies to communicate the importance of ACIP guidelines related to Tdap vaccination coverage to women and their prenatal care providers.

Tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis vaccination coverage before, during, and after pregnancy - 16 States and New York City, 2011.

Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS): Unintended Pregnancy among Women Having a Live Birth

Objectives: We examined pregnancy intention measures and contraceptive use behaviors among reproductive-age women using data from two CDC-based surveillance systems. Methods: We analyzed data for women aged 18–44 from 4 states that collected information on pregnancy and contraceptive use from both the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS, n = 4201) and the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS, n = 7761) in 2000. Standard definitions of intended and unintended pregnancy were used. Results: BRFSS data show that 4% (95% CI: 2.8–5.2) of the women were pregnant at the time of interview and that 57% (95% CI: 41.9–71.9) of these pregnancies were intended. Women who had been pregnant within the last 5 years but were not currently pregnant reported that 61% (95% CI: 55.9–65.3) of their most recent pregnancies had been intended. According to PRAMS, 58% (95% CI: 56.5–60.5) of women with live births had intended pregnancies. Contraceptive use varied across the surveys; 68% (95% CI: 65.7–70.7) of all non-pregnant women from BRFSS and 87% (95% CI: 85.1–87.9) of women with a recent live birth from PRAMS reported using contraceptives. Conclusions: Although contraceptive use differed between the BRFSS and PRAMS, the patterns of pregnancy intention were similar for women who had a pregnancy within the past 5 years, those who recently delivered a live-born infant, and those who were currently pregnant. It appears that reporting of pregnancy intention is not affected by timing of assessment across the two surveys.

Pregnancy intention and contraceptive use among adult women.

Background We revisited the association between progress in MPOWER implementation from 2008 to 2016 and smoking prevalence from 2009 to 2017 and offered an in-depth understanding of differential outcomes for various country groups. Methods We used data from six rounds of the WHO Reports on the Global Tobacco Epidemic and calculated a composite MPOWER Score for each country in each period. We categorised the countries in four initial conditions based on their tobacco control preparedness measured by MPOWER score in 2008 and smoking burden measured by age-adjusted adult daily smoking prevalence in 2006: (1) High MPOWER – high prevalence (HM-HP). (2) High MPOWER – low prevalence (HM-LP). (3) Low MPOWER – high prevalence (LM-HP). (4) Low MPOWER – low prevalence (LM-LP). We estimated the association of age-adjusted adult daily smoking prevalence with MPOWER Score and cigarette tax rates using two-way fixed-effects panel regression models including both year and country fixed effects. Results A unit increase of the MPOWER Score was associated with 0.39 and 0.50 percentage points decrease in adult daily smoking prevalence for HM-HP and HM-LP countries, respectively. When tax rate was controlled for separately from MPOWE, an increase in tax rate showed a negative association with daily smoking prevalence for HM-HP and LM-LP countries, while the MPOWE Score showed a negative association for all initial condition country groups except for LM-LP countries. Conclusion A decade after the introduction of the WHO MPOWER package, we observed that the countries with higher initial tobacco control preparedness and higher smoking burden were able to reduce the adult daily smoking prevalence significantly.

https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/tobaccocontrol/early/2020/09/06/tobaccocontrol-2020-055758.full.pdf

Indu B. Ahluwalia

Papers

Tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis vaccination coverage before, during, and after pregnancy - 16 States and New York City, 2011.

Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS): Unintended Pregnancy among Women Having a Live Birth

Pregnancy intention and contraceptive use among adult women.

Revisiting the association between worldwide implementation of the MPOWER package and smoking prevalence, 2008-2017.

Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System: PRAMS 1998 surveillance report