Priority. The disease remains a priority health problem due to: (1) the need for surveillance and control in areas where sylvatic vectors can invade dwellings; (2) the medical and social costs of care for infected people in the absence of efficient and well-tolerated therapy, especially against the chronic form of the disease; (3) the difficulty in obtaining priority for control activities and vector elimination in areas where vectorial transmission has been interrupted; and (4) the need to continue strengthening mandatory blood-donor screening in endemic areas, as well as in non-endemic areas where increased travel and/or immigration of potentially infected donors might compromise donated blood supplies (WHO, 2004b). The UNDP-World Bank – WHO Program for Research states that, “New basic knowledge about the biomedical, social, economic, health system and behavioural determinants of ill health is essential for improving and developing tools for the prevention and control of infectious diseases. In stimulating the generation of, and making accessible, new basic knowledge, TDR works at national and international levels (WHO, 2004c).”

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