NOT A SINGLE BABY WITH CHAGAS DISEASE

Chagas disease affects between 6 to 7 million people in the world (less than 1% receives treatment); 1.2 million of them are women of childbearing age, and 9,000 babies are born with the disease every year; that is ¡one per hour! Most of them are not diagnosed or treated.

The best-known transmission of the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi is by contact with the feces of an insect, the vinchuca, if it is infected. Most transmissions are produced from mothers with Chagas disease to their babies during pregnancy or delivery.

With the "NOT A SINGLE BABY WITH CHAGAS DISEASE" campaign, the Fundación Mundo Sano is committed to raising the visibility of this disease so that by 2030 all women of childbearing age and all babies born to mothers affected by Chagas disease will have access to diagnosis and treatment.

In April 2021, the awareness campaign (launched in 2019) became an international cooperation program. The “Not a Single Baby with Chagas Disease: The Path Towards New Generations Free of Chagas Disease” initiative was approved during the XXVII Ibero-American Summit, which gathered together the heads of state of 22 countries, and the Foundation was appointed Technical Unit of the initiative.

Chagas disease involves biological, environmental, economic, educational and socio-cultural aspects. It is a stigmatizing disease, and therefore, silenced. A positive and emotional communication style was defined for the campaign in order to promote a change in the social perception and contribute to the empowerment of every potentially-infected person for them to exert their right to receive diagnosis and treatment. This new approach to the disease was the guide to create the main communication tool: the INHERITAGE spot.

The spot had more than one million views on social networks. Graphic, digital and radio media and TV news programs shared the spot in their portals and social networks.

Thanks to the constant and uninterrupted dissemination and activities related to “Not a Single Baby with Chagas Disease,” this program has received the support of UNICEF, the WHO, the PAHO, the Ibero-American General Secretariat, the Evandro Chagas Institute of Brazil and the Barcelona Institute for Global Health.