STOP Neglected Diseases of Poverty Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2675 To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to carry out activities relating to neglected diseases of poverty. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES OCTOBER 23, 2019 Mr. BOOKER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to carry out activities relating to neglected diseases of poverty. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Study, Treat, Observe, 4 and Prevent Neglected Diseases of Poverty Act’’ or the 5 ‘‘STOP Neglected Diseases of Poverty Act’’. 6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 7 Congress finds as follows: 8 (1) Neglected diseases of poverty, many of 9 which are also known as ‘‘neglected tropical dis- 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:41 Oct 25, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2675.IS S2675 2 •S 2675 IS eases’’, are a group of diseases that disproportion- 1 ately affect vulnerable populations living in extreme 2 poverty. 3 (2) More than 1,000,000,000 people worldwide 4 are affected by neglected diseases of poverty. 5 (3) Neglected diseases of poverty can be trans- 6 mitted— 7 (A) through contaminated food, water, and 8 soil; 9 (B) through parasites, insects, blood trans- 10 fusion, and organ transplant; and 11 (C) in some cases, congenitally. 12 (4) Neglected diseases of poverty have a high 13 rate of morbidity and mortality and can lead to 14 health complications such as heart disease, epilepsy, 15 asthma, blindness, developmental delays, stillbirth, 16 low birthweight, and gastrointestinal disorders. 17 (5) Some neglected diseases of poverty can be 18 asymptomatic at the outset, but debilitating or dan- 19 gerous symptoms can emerge over time or under cer- 20 tain conditions, such as pregnancy. It is estimated 21 that millions of people are living with these diseases 22 and are not aware that they are infected. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:41 Oct 25, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2675.IS S2675 3 •S 2675 IS (6) For tens of thousands of individuals, dis- 1 eases of poverty that are chronic and neglected can 2 manifest into severe illness later in life. 3 (7) Neglected diseases of poverty place a sig- 4 nificant financial burden on affected individuals and 5 communities due to the health care costs associated 6 with these diseases and because these diseases limit 7 individuals’ productivity and ability to be active con- 8 tributors to their communities. This burden could 9 largely be prevented through early screening and 10 treatment, which are highly cost effective. 11 (8) Since its inception in 2006, the Neglected 12 Tropical Diseases Program at the United States 13 Agency for International Development and its part- 14 ners, including the Centers for Disease Control and 15 Prevention, have delivered more than 1,600,000,000 16 treatments to more than 743,000,000 people. 17 (9) Due to the support provided by the United 18 States Agency for International Development and its 19 partners, 140,000,000 people live in regions where 20 they are no longer at risk of contracting lymphatic 21 filariasis, and 65,000,000 people live in regions 22 where they are no longer at risk of contracting tra- 23 choma. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:41 Oct 25, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2675.IS S2675 4 •S 2675 IS (10) Although the exact prevalence and burden 1 of these diseases in the United States is unknown 2 because of stigma and limited reporting, surveil- 3 lance, and awareness, one study estimates that there 4 are 12,000,000 individuals living with a neglected 5 disease of poverty throughout the country. These 6 diseases disproportionately affect racial and ethnic 7 minorities living in poverty and in regions where 8 water quality and sanitation are substandard. 9 (11) The major neglected diseases of poverty in 10 the United States that predominantly occur among 11 those living in poverty are the following: Toxocari- 12 asis, cysticercosis, Chagas disease, toxoplasmosis, 13 trichomoniasis, and Dengue Fever. 14 (12) There is a lack of diagnostic and treat- 15 ment programs, including for early diagnosis and 16 treatment, for neglected diseases of poverty. These 17 programs would be highly cost effective and would 18 significantly reduce the burden of morbidity and 19 mortality of these diseases. 20 (13) Funding for research, preventive strate- 21 gies, and the development of treatments and diag- 22 nostic tests for neglected diseases of poverty in the 23 United States is limited. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:41 Oct 25, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2675.IS S2675 5 •S 2675 IS SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 1 It is the sense of Congress that there is a need to 2 study the prevalence and incidence of neglected diseases 3 of poverty in the United States, identify preventive meth- 4 ods to combat neglected diseases of poverty, conduct re- 5 search that will lead to more treatments and diagnostic 6 tests for neglected diseases of poverty, and supply health 7 care providers, public health professionals, and affected in- 8 dividuals and communities with educational resources on 9 neglected diseases of poverty. 10 SEC. 4. DEFINITION OF NEGLECTED DISEASES OF POV- 11 ERTY. 12 In this Act, the term ‘‘neglected diseases of poverty’’ 13 has the meaning given such term in section 399OO(e) of 14 the Public Health Service Act, as added by section 5. 15 SEC. 5. PROGRAMS RELATING TO NEGLECTED DISEASES 16 OF POVERTY. 17 Title III of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 18 241 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 19 lowing: 20 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:41 Oct 25, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2675.IS S2675 6 •S 2675 IS ‘‘PART W—PROGRAMS RELATING TO NEGLECTED 1 DISEASES OF POVERTY IN THE UNITED STATES 2 ‘‘SEC. 399OO. INTERAGENCY TASK FORCE ON NEGLECTED 3 DISEASES OF POVERTY IN THE UNITED 4 STATES. 5 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 180 days 6 after the date of enactment of the Study, Treat, Observe, 7 and Prevent Neglected Diseases of Poverty Act, the Sec- 8 retary shall establish an Interagency Task Force on Ne- 9 glected Diseases of Poverty in the United States to provide 10 advice and recommendations to the Secretary and Con- 11 gress to prevent, treat, and diagnose neglected diseases 12 of poverty in the United States. 13 ‘‘(b) MEMBERS.—The task force shall be comprised 14 of representatives of— 15 ‘‘(1) the Department of Health and Human 16 Services, including the Assistant Secretary for 17 Health and representatives from the Centers for 18 Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug 19 Administration, the Health Resources and Services 20 Administration, the National Institutes of Health, 21 and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Devel- 22 opment Authority; 23 ‘‘(2) the Department of State; 24 ‘‘(3) the United States Agency for International 25 Development; 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:41 Oct 25, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2675.IS S2675 7 •S 2675 IS ‘‘(4) the Department of Agriculture; 1 ‘‘(5) the Department of Housing and Urban 2 Development; 3 ‘‘(6) the Environmental Protection Agency; and 4 ‘‘(7) any other Federal agency that has juris- 5 diction over, or is affected by, neglected diseases of 6 poverty policies and projects, as determined by the 7 Secretary. 8 ‘‘(c) INITIAL REPORT.— 9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 10 after the date of enactment of the Study, Treat, Ob- 11 serve, and Prevent Neglected Diseases of Poverty 12 Act, the task force shall submit a report to the Sec- 13 retary based on a review of relevant literature to 14 identify gaps in efforts, and guide future efforts, to 15 prevent, identify, and treat neglected diseases of 16 poverty in the United States, particularly 17 toxocariasis, cysticercosis, Chagas disease, toxoplas- 18 mosis, trichomoniasis, and Dengue Fever. The re- 19 port shall include a summary of findings with re- 20 spect to— 21 ‘‘(A) estimated prevalence of neglected dis- 22 eases of poverty in the United States; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:41 Oct 25, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2675.IS S2675 8 •S 2675 IS ‘‘(B) geographic distribution and major 1 distribution routes of neglected diseases of pov- 2 erty in the United States; 3 ‘‘(C) disparities with respect to the burden 4 of neglected diseases of poverty in the United 5 States; 6 ‘‘(D) risk factors for neglected diseases of 7 poverty in the United States; 8 ‘‘(E) existing tools for surveillance, preven- 9 tion, diagnosis, and treatment of neglected dis- 10 eases of poverty in the United States; 11 ‘‘(F) barriers to access to information and 12 tools for surveillance, prevention, diagnosis, and 13 treatment of neglected diseases of poverty in 14 the United States; 15 ‘‘(G) comorbidities associated with ne- 16 glected diseases of poverty in the United States; 17 ‘‘(H) awareness among health care pro- 18 viders and public health professionals regarding 19 neglected diseases of poverty in the United 20 States; 21 ‘‘(I) public awareness of neglected diseases 22 of poverty in the United States, particularly 23 among high-risk groups; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:41 Oct 25, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2675.IS S2675 9 •S 2675 IS ‘‘(J) the economic burden of neglected dis- 1 eases of poverty in the United States; and 2 ‘‘(K) strategies and lessons learned from 3 the United States Agency for International De- 4 velopment Neglected Tropical Diseases Pro- 5 gram, particularly those that are most applica- 6 ble to efforts to prevent, diagnose, and treat ne- 7 glected diseases of poverty in the United States. 8 ‘‘(2) CONSULTATION.—In developing the initial 9 report under paragraph (1), the task force shall con- 10 sult with appropriate external parties, including 11 States, local communities, scientists, researchers, 12 health care providers and public health professionals, 13 and national and international nongovermental orga- 14 nizations. 15 ‘‘(d) DUTIES.—The task force shall— 16 ‘‘(1) review and evaluate the current actions 17 and future plans of each applicable agency rep- 18 resented on the task force as described in subsection 19 (b) to prevent, diagnose, and treat neglected diseases 20 of poverty in the United States; 21 ‘‘(2) identify current and potential areas of 22 partnership and coordination between Federal agen- 23 cies and develop a unified implementation plan to 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:41 Oct 25, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2675.IS S2675 10 •S 2675 IS prevent, diagnose, and treat neglected diseases of 1 poverty in the United States; 2 ‘‘(3) make efforts to apply applicable strategies 3 and lessons learned from the United States Agency 4 for International Development Neglected Tropical 5 Diseases Program when developing the implementa- 6 tion plan under paragraph (2); 7 ‘‘(4) establish specific goals within and across 8 Federal agencies to prevent, diagnose, and treat ne- 9 glected diseases of poverty in the United States, in- 10 cluding metrics to assess progress towards reaching 11 those goals; 12 ‘‘(5) coordinate plans to communicate research 13 and relevant accomplishments across Federal agen- 14 cies and with States and local communities relating 15 to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of ne- 16 glected diseases of poverty; 17 ‘‘(6) develop consensus guidelines for health 18 care providers and public health professionals for the 19 prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of toxocariasis, 20 cysticercosis, Chagas disease, toxoplasmosis, tricho- 21 moniasis, Dengue Fever, and other neglected dis- 22 eases of poverty; 23 ‘‘(7) biannually make recommendations to Con- 24 gress on strategies for the development of affordable 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:41 Oct 25, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2675.IS S2675 11 •S 2675 IS tools to prevent, diagnose, and treat neglected dis- 1 eases of poverty, including drugs, diagnostics, and 2 vaccines; and 3 ‘‘(8) in developing the guidelines and rec- 4 ommendations under paragraphs (6) and (7), con- 5 sult with external parties, including States, local 6 communities, scientists, researchers, health care pro- 7 viders and public health professionals, national and 8 international nongovernmental organizations, and 9 centers of excellence with expertise in neglected dis- 10 eases of poverty, including the centers of excellence 11 described in section 399OO–5. 12 ‘‘(e) DEFINITION OF NEGLECTED DISEASES OF POV- 13 ERTY.—In this part, the term ‘neglected diseases of pov- 14 erty’— 15 ‘‘(1) means chronic and disabling diseases that 16 are caused by parasites, bacteria, and other patho- 17 gens and that primarily impact people living in ex- 18 treme poverty; and 19 ‘‘(2) includes the following: 20 ‘‘(A) Chagas disease. 21 ‘‘(B) Cysticercosis. 22 ‘‘(C) Toxocariasis. 23 ‘‘(D) Toxoplasmosis. 24 ‘‘(E) Trichomoniasis. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:41 Oct 25, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2675.IS S2675 12 •S 2675 IS ‘‘(F) Dengue Fever. 1 ‘‘(G) Other neglected tropical diseases, in- 2 cluding those defined by the World Health Or- 3 ganization, such as the following: 4 ‘‘(i) Buruli ulcer. 5 ‘‘(ii) Chikungunya. 6 ‘‘(iii) Dracunculiasis. 7 ‘‘(iv) Echinococcosis. 8 ‘‘(v) Foodborne trematodiases. 9 ‘‘(vi) Human African trypanosomiasis. 10 ‘‘(vii) Leishmaniases. 11 ‘‘(viii) Leprosy. 12 ‘‘(ix) Lymphatic filariasis. 13 ‘‘(x) Mycetoma. 14 ‘‘(xi) Onchocerciasis. 15 ‘‘(xii) Rabies. 16 ‘‘(xiii) Schistosomiasis. 17 ‘‘(xiv) Soil-transmitted helminthiases. 18 ‘‘(xv) Taeniasis and neurocysticerco- 19 sis. 20 ‘‘(xvi) Trachoma. 21 ‘‘(xvii) Yaws. 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:41 Oct 25, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2675.IS S2675 13 •S 2675 IS ‘‘SEC. 399OO–1. SURVEILLANCE REGARDING NEGLECTED 1 DISEASES OF POVERTY IN THE UNITED 2 STATES. 3 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting through 4 the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Pre- 5 vention, shall award grants to States to carry out activities 6 relating to implementing a surveillance system to deter- 7 mine the prevalence, incidence, and distribution of ne- 8 glected diseases of poverty, particularly those that most 9 impact individuals in the United States, including 10 toxocariasis, cysticercosis, Chagas disease, toxoplasmosis, 11 trichomoniasis, and Dengue Fever. 12 ‘‘(b) CONSIDERATIONS.—In awarding grants under [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]