“A bill to authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to carry out activities relating to neglected diseases of poverty.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section states congressional findings on neglected diseases of poverty, including that more than 1,000,000,000 people worldwide are affected, the Neglected Tropical Diseases Program at USAID has delivered more than 3,300,000,000 treatments since 2006, 140,000,000 people are no longer at risk of lymphatic filariasis and 65,000,000 are no longer at risk of trachoma due to U.S. support, and an estimated 12,000,000 individuals in the United States live with such diseases.
This section expresses the sense of Congress that studies are needed on the prevalence and incidence of neglected diseases of poverty in the United States, along with preventive methods, research to develop treatments and diagnostic tests, and educational resources for health care providers, public health professionals, and affected communities.
This section establishes an Interagency Task Force on Neglected Diseases of Poverty in the United States within 180 days of enactment, comprising representatives from HHS (including CDC, FDA, HRSA, NIH, and BARDA), State, Agriculture, HUD, Defense, EPA, and other relevant agencies. The task force must submit an initial report within 180 days on prevalence, geographic distribution, disparities, risk factors, surveillance and treatment tools, barriers, comorbidities, provider and public awareness, and economic burden for toxocariasis, cysticercosis, Chagas disease, toxoplasmosis, trichomoniasis, and Dengue fever, and must review agency actions, develop a unified implementation plan with goals and metrics, coordinate communications, issue consensus guidelines, and make biannual recommendations to Congress on affordable tools.