Central American Initiative for Chagas Disease Control

A regional vector-control programme against Chagas disease, launched in 1997 as the Initiative of the Central American Countries, commonly abbreviated IPCA, by Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama, with the stated goals of eliminating the introduced vector Rhodnius prolixus, reducing household infestation by the native vector Triatoma dimidiata, and interrupting transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi through blood transfusion. Countries qualified for certified vector elimination once permanent surveillance showed more than three consecutive years free of vector infestation, and by this standard the Pan American Health Organization and World Health Organization had certified R. prolixus elimination in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica by 2011, with Guatemala's own transmission interruption dated to 2008 and Honduras and Nicaragua's to 2011. Mexico joined the initiative in 2013, renaming it IPCAM, and by 2014 the combined reduction in R. prolixus and T. dimidiata infestation had significantly lowered regional Chagas incidence while blood-donor screening reached full coverage across the region.