2023 Prize Winner Announced in Dar es Salaam

Continuing our partnership with Novartis begun in 2020, American Leprosy Missions (ALM) offered one $40,000 award as the fifth annual NTD Innovation Prize for a proposal leveraging mapping and GIS approaches to combat neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).

We received 23 abstracts from 12 countries, yielding three finalists. During the closing plenary of the 14th annual NTD NGO Network (NNN) Conference in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, ALM announced the winner: Tine Huyse of the ATRAP initiative. Learn more about this project in the full American Leprosy Missions press release.

The ATRAP Initiative is the winner of ALM’s 2023 NTD Innovation Prize

2022 NTD Innovation Prize Winner

For the fourth annual NTD Innovation Prize, American Leprosy Missions partnered with Novartis to offer one $40,000 award to a proposal leveraging digital health and technology to combat neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). We received 38 abstracts from 21 countries, yielding three finalists. The finalists were introduced and the winner announced during the 13th annual NTD NGO Network (NNN) Conference, September 13-15, 2022.

Read about the winners in the full American Leprosy Missions press release.

2021 NTD Innovation Prize Winners

This year, American Leprosy Missions partnered with Novartis to offer two $20,000 awards to a finalist in the data and analytics domain and a finalist with a diagnostics proposal. We received 30 abstracts from 15 countries, yielding the six finalists. The finalists were introduced and the winners announced during the 12th annual NTD NGO Network (NNN) Conference, September 7-9, 2021. Additionally, one finalist received a $1,000 Popular Choice Award based on voting through ntdinnnovation.org.

Read about the winners in the full American Leprosy Missions press release.

Igniting the Future of NTDs Care

This spring, I had the privilege of being a guide for the NTD Challenge Team of the 2021 Forbes Ignite Fellowship teams. The Fellowship is a four-month-long program that awards 30 young female professionals around the world, challenging them to work together to create executable solutions in the area of health care and artificial intelligence. This year, the Fellowship’s key issues were:

• genetics

• data sharing

• mental health

• impact investing

• triage in developing markets  

• neglected tropical diseases (NTDs)

My team of five exceptionally talented women from India, the UK, South Africa, Spain and Qatar represented expertise spanning clinical medicine, pharmacology, infectious diseases research, software programming, entrepreneurship and machine learning. Their challenge question for NTDs was:

How can we find common interventions to reduce the impact of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs)?

I was impressed with their enthusiasm, teamwork, empathy and commitment to help people affected by NTDs, and enjoyed learning along with them.

To help my team explore their question, I shared my experience—particularly in India—with continuum of care issues for people affected by chronic disabling NTDs like leprosy and lymphatic filariasis. In India, people affected by these diseases are scattered in poorer and less resourced communities, dependent on ASHAs (Accredited Social Health Activists): the frontline female government health workers instituted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. ASHAs are the first, and often only, point of contact for health care in these communities. Since nearly all of India’s national health programs run on the backs of the ASHAs, chronic NTD care holds low priority. Further, the NTD training that ASHAs receive usually focuses on detection rather than care, and is often soon forgotten.

A user-friendly, technology-based solution that enables real time advice on care would go a long way in empowering ASHAs and preventing increased disability or advanced disease status. The NTD Challenge team determined that this was their project’s mission:

To advocate, empower and educate communities with, or at risk of, NTDs in a gender sensitive way by leveraging existing technology.

After extensive discussions, initial prototyping, and meeting with Dr. Suresh Munuswamy of the Indian Institute of Public Health’s HiRapid Lab, the team developed an optimized, smartphone-compatible voice/chatbot for ASHAs. The tool, ASHA Saheli (saheli is girlfriend in Hindi), uses an initial ten questions on leprosy self-care. The questions can handle primary variations and support three languages: English, Hindi and Telugu.

During the final project presentations in May, the NTD Challenge team was one of two teams the Fellowship judges selected for honorable mentions, particularly for the potential to positively impact lives and the passion and capability of the team to deliver on business vision.

Our own projects and innovations at American Leprosy Missions (ALM) gave me additional insights to share with the Fellowship team this spring. At ALM, we’re pioneering another digital tool for health care workers like ASHAs: the DHARA WL2  app (Digital @ Home-based AI-enabled Real-time Appropriate interventions for WASH, Leprosy & Lymphatic filariasis). Currently in its testing phase, this app will assist health care personnel in screening and managing NTD cases during home visits, instead of people affected traveling to the nearest medical facility.

Another initiative to share with the NTD Challenge team was our integrated water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and NTDs Jagruti program, a partnership between ALM and Lepra Society in endemic regions in Asia. We’re successfully empowering local women through training and digital technology to manage household WASH, home-based care and NTD referrals in their own communities.

Opportunities like the Forbes Ignite Fellowship bring together some of the brightest and most capable minds to address pressing issues in public health. By pushing for innovative solutions, these collaborations move us closer to a world free of NTDs through the deployment of existing tools and development of new solutions.

Dr. Shyamala Anand
Senior Technical Advisor for NTDs
American Leprosy Missions

Technology in Global Health: An Instrument of Impact

This blog was originally written for the 2021 Christian Connections in International Health virtual conference.

Since our founding in 1906, American Leprosy Missions (ALM) has accelerated the exploration and application of novel solutions to cure, care and end high-morbidity neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) like leprosy. These diseases affect more than one billion of the world’s poorest and most marginalized people and can lead to lifelong disabilities, increased poverty, profound suffering and isolation.

A mobile lab in Ghana prepares to use a Biomeme machine for COVID-19 testing. Credit: ALM

During our long history, we have recognized that, in order to tackle NTDs, we have to pursue advances in treatment, like when we pioneered leprosy treatment with diasone in 1946 or piloted multi-drug therapy with the Philippines Department of Health in the 1980s. However, to restore people affected by NTDs to lives of dignity and hope, we have also had to overcome challenges beyond treatment. This holistic perspective motivated us to develop special farm tools and equipment for anesthetic hands in the 1970s, to launch research on the world’s first leprosy-specific vaccine in 2002, and to create protein databases, foot sensors and laboratory networks today.

Since we know that “business as usual” will not beat NTDs, ALM continues to invest in innovative approaches, systems, technologies and tools that create sustainable, positive impact for people affected. Uniting around technology in global health means we have a collective commitment to use all sorts of technologies—new and old, already existing and not yet created—to generate that type of impact.

American Leprosy Missions is exploring innovative technologies to combat NTDs in a variety of ways:

• A groundbreaking resource for analyzing drug resistance in leprosy, the HARP (Hansen’s disease Antimicrobial Resistance Profiles) database, developed by ALM director of research and innovation, Dr. Sundeep Chaitanya, in partnership with the Blundell Group Laboratory at the University of Cambridge.

The HARP database, developed by ALM director of research and innovation, Dr. Sundeep Chaitanya, with the Blundell Group Laboratory at the University of Cambridge. Credit: ALM

• A smartphone-based digital platform in testing phase in India, designed for health care personnel to screen and manage NTD cases and deliver morbidity management and disability prevention (MMDP) services at the home of the person affected (our regional director for Asia, Dr. Sunil Anand, is leading a CCIH conference session on May 25 to discuss the DHARA Project!).

• A new Buruli Ulcer Laboratory Network in West Africa with a shared data portal to ensure accurate diagnosis of the flesh-eating disease, Buruli ulcer.

The team of representatives from 12 laboratories across West Africa forming the Buruli Ulcer Lab Network. Credit: ALM

• A partnership with Biomeme, Inc., enabling ALM and our partners to adapt Biomeme’s hand-held point-of-need molecular testing technology for use with NTDs and other infectious diseases like COVID-19 in remote contexts.

Dr. Chaitanya and Dr. Madhusmita Das of the Schieffelin Institute test the Biomeme qPCR machine’s efficacy in diagnosing leprosy. Credit: ALM

• A study of foot sensors to alert the wearer about points of pressure that could become ulcers or other impairments on people with anesthetic feet due to leprosy, a partnership with the Schieffelin Institute of Health—Research and Leprosy Centre in Karigiri, India.

Dr. Satish Kumar Paul at the Schieffelin Institute adjusts the first model of the foot sensor—his original idea—on a study participant. Newer models will be small enough to be fixed on footwear. Credit: Tom Bradley

These various technology projects encompass both incremental, novel adaptations of existing ideas and disruptive new solutions. They’re often inspired by or adapted from others. But our innovations are always focused on people – on getting solutions to the people affected – because we believe every person matters. In the global health space, we share that conviction with all of you: this belief is what unites us in our creativity, ingenuity and innovative use of technology.

Jessica Mussro
Communications Coordinator
American Leprosy Missions

New Database to Analyze Drug Resistance in Leprosy

Innovative thinking understands and overcomes barriers. Whether the obstacle is social, environmental, geographic or systemic, innovation finds ways to remove or bypass it to achieve a goal. At American Leprosy Missions, we seek to accelerate solutions that will cure, care for, and end neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), solutions that overcome existing barriers. This fall, we celebrated the elimination of another barrier: a 9-14 month process to analyze how leprosy protein mutations impact drug resistance. A process that can now be completed in a matter of seconds.

Encountering an Obstacle in Leprosy Treatment

Dr. Sundeep Chaitanya, American Leprosy Missions' director of innovation and research, grew up in a leprosy hospital, observing firsthand the disease's devastation and the importance of timely treatment. Later, as a researcher in south India, Dr. Chaitanya processed DNA samples from leprosy patients who didn't respond to multi-drug therapy (MDT). Resistance to MDT is a serious concern, since it's the only existing cure for people affected by leprosy. Unfortunately, determining drug resistance is a time-consuming process: collecting samples, isolating relevant genes, then waiting on specialists to analyze the DNA. 

As part of the DNA analysis for these patients, Dr. Chaitanya would identify protein mutations causing drug resistance and send a result to the clinics. However, only a handful of mutations were catalogued, so there was no available guidance on how to treat people experiencing undocumented mutations. 

Dr. Chaitanya remembers these moments: "When I sent the reports with new mutations to the clinics, I many times heard the question, 'Sundeep, what do we do now?'"

New Tool to Analyze Mutations

Today, after years of work, Dr. Chaitanya has developed an incredible new tool for other researchers and clinicians to analyze mutations. American Leprosy Missions is proud to announce the launch of the HARP (Hansen's disease Antimicrobial Resistance Profiles) database, a collaboration with Sir Thomas Blundell's group in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Cambridge. HARP catalogs all 80,902 mutations, showing instantly how mutant proteins impact MDT therapy. 

A complete reference like HARP is an invaluable resource for those diagnosing and treating drug-resistant leprosy, like Dr. Chaitanya did as a researcher. Using HARP, clinicians and scientists can immediately see how each protein mutation leads or doesn't lead to MDT resistance, rather than working for 9-14 months to determine the outcome of new mutations. While there is still work to do in adapting MDT treatment for people affected by a mutation, HARP streamlines the analysis process in a way never seen before. 

“Business as usual” will not beat NTDs like leprosy, so we continue to develop new tools that will have a positive impact for people affected. To learn more about this newest innovative step, visit the HARP database at https://harp-leprosy.org/home or read the article, HARP, a database of structural impacts of systematic missense mutations in drug targets of Mycobacterium leprae published in the Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal (IF 6.018).

Jessica Mussro
Communications Coordinator
American Leprosy Missions

2020 NTD Innovation Prize Winners Announced

American Leprosy Missions announced the winners of the 2020 NTD Innovation Prize on September 10, 2020, during the closing session of the virtual 11th NTD NGO Network Conference. This year's awards were offered in partnership with Novartis. 

The NTD Innovation Prize is designed to encourage and support creativity and ingenuity within the NTD space, funding new ideas that can result in cost-effective, scalable and transformative positive impact. 

The first-place award of $20,000 went to Dr. Hugues Nana Djeunga and M. Arnauld Efon Ekangouo at the Centre for Research on Filariasis and other Tropical Diseases (CRFilMT) in Yaoundé, Cameroon. Their project will explore the potential of cell-free DNA as a biomarker to diagnose onchocerciasis. 

The second-place award of $15,000 went to Dr. Deanna Hagge, Dr. Suwash Baral, and Dr Arie de Kruijff from The Leprosy Mission and Dr. Janis Spigulis from the University of Latvia. Their project will create and test a spectral imaging diagnosis process, based on similar work for skin melanoma, as a way to identify leprosy lesions. 

Watch the video of the prize presentations during the NNN Conference closing session. Read the winning team members' biographies below, and access their pitch videos and written proposal summaries here. 

Both these projects seek to improve diagnostics by applying new approaches, tools or methods to a persistent challenge. We're excited to see how these teams move the NTD community forward, generating positive outcomes for people affected by these diseases across the world. 

The 2021 NTD Innovation Prize will open for applications in January 2021. Check ntdinnovation.org for more information.

First Place, $20,000

M. Arnauld Efon Ekangouo and Dr. Hugues Nana Djeunga 
Centre for Research on Filariasis and other Tropical Diseases - Cameroon

Proposal: Cell-free DNA: A promising biomarker for onchocerciasis elimination mapping?

M. Arnauld Efon Ekangouo is a Ph.D. candidate in biochemistry at the University of Yaoundé I and a research assistant at the Centre for Research on Filariasis and other Tropical Diseases (CRFilMT) in Yaoundé, Cameroon. 

Dr. Hugues Nana Djeunga is a molecular parasitologist based at the CRFilMT in Yaounde, Cameroon, where he leads the Molecular Parasitology and Genetic Epidemiology (MPGE) Department.

The CRFilMT is a not-for-profit research institution specialized on health research, and partnering with local public health authorities including NGDOs dedicated to tropical diseases. The Centre's research activities include clinical trials, drug discovery/development, development of diagnostic tools, monitoring and evaluation of NTD control programs, and surveillance and management of serious adverse events occurring during mass drug administration. In addition, the CRFilMT is one of five reference laboratories accredited to carry out onchocerciasis diagnostics for control program evaluation and monitoring throughout Africa. 

Second place, $15,000

Dr. Arie de Kruijff, Dr. Suwash Baral and Dr. Deanna Hagge - The Leprosy Mission  
Dr. Janis Spigulis - University of Latvia, Institute of Atomic Physics and Spectroscopy

Proposal: Applying spectral imaging to leprosy diagnosis.

Dr. Arie de Kruijff is a medical doctor and has been working as The Leprosy Mission country leader in Mozambique since 2004.

Dr. Suwash Baral is a dermatologist and dermatopathologist consulting since 2014 at Anandaban Hospital, The Leprosy Mission Nepal.

Dr. Deanna Hagge has worked with The Leprosy Mission (TLM) since 2007. Recognized as an international expert in leprosy research, she collaborates on a number of projects. Based in Kathmandu, Nepal, Dr. Hagge directs TLM's mycobacterium research laboratories and advises and supports TLM's research across the world.

Dr. Janis Spigulis heads the Biophotonics Laboratory at the Institute of Atomic Physics and Spectroscopy, University of Latvia. Since 1997, the laboratory has developed new technologies for optical assessment of in-vivo skin. Dr. Spigulis has authored more than 200 scientific publications and 25 patented applications.

Jessica Mussro
Communications Coordinator
American Leprosy Missions