Lymphatic filariasis: managing morbidity and preventing disability: an aide-mémoire for national programme.

"Since the first edition of Lymphatic Filariasis: Managing Morbidity and Preventing Disability: An Aide Memoire for National Programme Managers was published by the World Health Organization in 2013, significant progress has been made in reducing filarial infection globally and there has been a groundswell of support for expanding availability to morbidity management and disability prevention (MMDP) services for individuals suffering from the chronic manifestations of lymphatic filariasis (LF). Morbidity management and disability prevention remains a critically important aspect of the Global Programme to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis, particularly as countries approach validation of elimination of LF as a public health problem. The new edition has been developed to make widely available to programme managers, health care workers in endemic settings, academic researchers, and other key partners, a concise source of information on strategies for MMDP for LF. It is a product of efforts to elaborate and concepts and approaches introduced in the previous edition, with a focus on ensuring that countries have the tools necessary to provide the essential package of care for LF. In an effort to assist member states in expanding and evaluating MMDP programs, WHO has developed a toolkit of materials to provide expanded clinical, operational, and managerial standard operating procedures for planning and implementing morbidity management and disability prevention activities."