HAT Platform

Members: National Control Programmes of most affected endemic countries: Angola, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Sudan, Uganda; Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), Switzerland; Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp (ITMA), Belgium; Institut National de Recherche Biomédicale (INRB), DRC; Kenya Agricultural Research Institute – Trypanosomiasis Research Centre (KARI-TRC), Kenya; Tropcial Medicine Research Institute (TMRI), Sudan; MSF/Epicentre; Institut Pasteur Bangui, CAR; Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND); WHO-TDR; Regional networks such as Eastern Africa Network for Trypanosomosis (EANETT), Centre interdisciplinaire de Bioéthique pour l'Afrique Francophone (CIBAF); Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (WHO-TDR) as observer

Objectives: To build and strengthen treatment methodologies and clinical trial capacity in HAT-endemic countries, so that new treatments for this fatal disease can be rapidly and effectively evaluated, registered, and made available to patients. After the success of the Nifurtimox-Eflornithine Combination Therapy (NECT), included in the WHO List of Essential Medicines for the treatment of stage 2 HAT, the primary goals of the HAT Platform are to develop appropriate clinical trial methodologies for HAT, overcome system challenges related to administrative and regulatory requirements, strengthen clinical trial capacity (human resources, infrastructure, equipment), and share information and strengthen ties among endemic countries.