Addressing Chagas: A Global Network to Strengthen Healthcare

Chagas disease remains a health and social challenge affecting millions of people in Latin America and spreading to other regions of the world. Although effective diagnostic tools and treatments exist, access to them remains limited and unequal. Added to this reality is a persistent gap in the training of healthcare teams: many professionals lack specific training on the disease, which hinders timely detection and quality comprehensive care, especially at the primary care level.

In this context, Addressing Chagas emerged as a global reference network for comprehensive disease care, committed to ensuring equitable access to diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up for all affected individuals. Since its creation in 2019, its work has focused on strengthening the capacities of health systems, promoting coordination between stakeholders and levels of care, and fostering a collaborative and sustainable approach.

With a strong social commitment, Addressing Chagas seeks to ensure that healthcare teams have the information and tools necessary to offer timely, continuous, and quality care; it also promotes the generation and dissemination of scientific evidence and the continuous training of healthcare teams.

The response to people affected by Chagas disease cannot depend on isolated actions either. Inter-institutional and intersectoral coordination is key to aligning efforts among ministries of health, laboratory networks, academic institutions, and communities, because only through collaborative and sustained work networks is it possible to contribute to sustainable and equitable public policies.

Collaboration and Continuous Learning to Improve Care

For healthcare professionals, being part of Addressing Chagas means joining a global network for the exchange of knowledge and learning committed to improving comprehensive care for Chagas disease. The Network offers a space for continuous training, exchange of experiences, and capacity building that transcends borders and levels of care.

An Agenda for the Future

Addressing Chagas is based on a conviction: addressing Chagas disease with quality and equity is possible if knowledge, cooperation, and commitment are combined. The Network seeks not only to improve care but also to contribute to a structural change in the way Chagas disease is perceived and managed, placing people at the center and helping to reduce the gaps that still limit access to diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up. Every action reflects the certainty that only through collaborative and coordinated work is it possible to build a future without Chagas.