Dr. Elie Akl, the director of the AUB GRADE
center, participated recently in the World Health Organization (WHO) department of Neglected Tropical
Disease guidelines on the use of fexinidazole in
patients with Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT). Dr. Akl acted as the GRADE
methodologist and co-chair for the guideline.
HAT is a neglected tropical disease that occurs in sub-Saharan
Africa, within the distributional limits of its vector, the tsetse fly. It
caused devastating epidemics during the 20th century, but thanks to sustained
and coordinated efforts over the past 15 years, the number of reported cases
has fallen to historically low levels. Fexinidazole is an emerging therapeutic option for HAT that was
recently approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA),
The WHO guideline development group meeting was held on 3-4
December 2018 in the WHO headquarters in Geneva.
