NIAID-funded scientists are working on an innovative research
initiative to stop the transmission of Human African
Trypanosomiasis, also known as sleeping sickness. Read more
about sleeping sickness research in Uganda. The sub-Saharan
Africa region faces an array of health challenges that are not
only socially debilitating but also corrosive to economic
development and regional stability. The World Health
Organization (WHO) estimates that HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and
malaria claim approximately 3 million lives in the region each
year. Parasitic diseases, such as hookworm and schistosomiasis,
also are prevalent, mostly among children, and cause hundreds of
thousands of deaths and widespread suffering. NIAID is at the
forefront of research efforts to address the high disease burden
in Africa and has had many notable successes in the region. For
example, NIAID-supported trials in Africa showed that two doses
of nevirapine, administered to mothers at childbirth and then to
their infants soon after birth, reduce mo