Year: 2026
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: BACKGROUND: People affected by T cruzi infection, and at risk to develop Chagas disease, face significant barriers to accessing healthcare and often lack adequate information and communication resources. To address this, the Chagas Coalition developed the InfoChagas digital platform, including an informative website and consultations sections, linked YouTube channels in English and Spanish. METHODOLOGY: This cross-sectional study analyzed consultations to the InfoChagas platform between 2016 and 2023. We conducted quantitative and qualitative analyses of the consultants' profiles, enquiry topics, and barriers that people at risk of having T. cruzi infection faced when seeking health care. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: A total of 272 consultations were received via the website (n = 129) and YouTube (n = 143) from 19 endemic and non-endemic countries. Nearly two-thirds of these were from Argentina (n = 33, 25.6%), Mexico (n = 24, 18.6%), and Bolivia (n = 22, 17%). Main topics included doubts related to access to treatment (n = 71, 26%), transmission risk in daily life (n = 38, 14%) and requests for help or referrals to health care professionals (n = 38, 14%). Half of the users (n = 138, 50.7%) reported barriers to healthcare access, with the majority citing the inability of the system to provide adequate and effective care for T. cruzi infection (n = 127, 92.7%). Additionally, 96.7% (n = 270) of the narratives highlighted the need for information, education, and communication (IEC) to understand the complexity of T. cruzi infection and to demystify concepts that hinder access to healthcare. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: InfoChagas serves as an informative, communicative, educational, and supportive resource for individuals affected by or at risk of T. cruzi infection across diverse geographic regions. Given the critical role of IEC strategies and the rise of healthcare technology, digital tools such as InfoChagas is a useful resource to face the existing barriers to healthcare access for the infection and to improve access to quality information and healthcare services.
Source: PLoS neglected tropical diseases
Authors: Elizabeth Posada Diago, Inés María Iglesias Rodríguez, Irene Losada-Galván, Edelweiss Aldasoro Irastorza, Pau Rubio Figuerola, Cristina Alonso-Vega, Joaquim Gascon, Mirko Rojas-Cortez, Rafael Herazo, Andrea Marchiol, Marcelo Abril, Elvira Hernández, Julio Alonso-Padilla, Francisco Javier Sancho Mas
Institutions: Barcelona Institute for Global Health, Nagasaki University, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red Enfermedades Infecciosas, Universitat de Barcelona, International Foundation for Integrated Care, International Foundation for Integrated Care, Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative
Language: English
Subfield: Epidemiology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,670
OpenAlex ID: W7125385759