Report of the fifth meeting of the WHO Diagnostic Technical Advisory Group for Neglected Tropical Diseases: virtual meeting, 8–9 November 2022
Overview
The WHO Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases (WHO/NTD) manages a diverse portfolio of 20 diseases and disease groups, each with its own unique epidemiology and diagnostic challenges. Programmes to address each of these diseases have different targets according to the particular disease’s profile: control, elimination as a public health problem, elimination of transmission, or eradication. Programmatic targets may change for any particular NTD over time as new tools are developed and global attention brings in increased support.
In spite of the diversity of disease programme targets, it was felt that there were common areas across programmes that would benefit from the establishment of a single working group for diagnostics. The Diagnostic Technical Advisory Group (DTAG) was formed to mould a unified approach for identifying and prioritizing diagnostic needs, and to inform WHO strategies and guidance on NTD diagnostics. The first meeting of the DTAG was held at the Inter Parliamentary Union in Geneva, Switzerland, in October 2019. The second took place virtually in October 2020, the third in June 2021, and the fourth in October 2021.
Several disease-specific and cross-cutting DTAG subgroups have been formed, resulting in the development of target product profiles (TPPs) for new diagnostics, some of which have been published, and some of which are in production.
WHO/NTD convened the fifth DTAG meeting on 8 and 9 November 2022, with the following objectives across the end-to-end process of diagnostic development:
- to hear updates from disease-specific subgroups;
- to discuss progress made by the cross-cutting and resource mobilization subgroups;
- to discuss regulatory issues, including the pilot WHO Expert Review Panel for Diagnostics (ERPD) for NTDs;
- to discuss advocacy and resource mobilization; and
- to discuss engagement of manufacturers and developers.
