April 14 marks the International Day of Chagas disease and to coincide with this date, BeatChagas is presenting the fourth song of the series of songs designed to raise awareness of the disease and end the social stigma that people affected suffer from.This time efforts have focused on Latin America, where the Chagas disease is one of the most important public health problems, and this is why in charge of the cover of the song has been an Argentine group, "Los hijos del Sol", in charge of the cover song "http://bit.ly/2oWUS4b" Las palabras no dan miedo" which was launched last October with the participation of Joan Manuel Serrat, Rosario Flores, Jofre Bardagí, Kevin Johansen and Benny Ibarra.Like in the earlier songs, "the goal is to turn fear and resignation of those people affected and to transform these feelings into courage and hope," said Dr. Jordi Gómez and Prat, from the Special Program of Infectious Diseases of Vall d'Hebron-Drassaness and coordinator of the Tropical Medicine and International Health Unit from the International Health Program of the ICS (PROSICS). "We want to give light to the people and that is why the message of the song incites to stand up and find solutions," he says.If with the previous songs we were looking for "celebrities" to get involved, now with the covers, "we are looking for the community to get involved, so we get closer to the people, especially those affected by the disease. And what better way to do that than through their own music, which they can play at their parties, which they can dance to, the ones they feel the closest," he adds.The songs are educational toolsDr. Gomez explains how the desire is BeatChagas is fighting to win Chagas disease in the psychosocial field: "Our songs are educational tools, with a content, messages, that have been studied and validated by a multidisciplinary group of experts. The songs are the psychosocial treatment of Chagas and if applied well, the results are as expected, the transformation of the people.""We focus on the social dimension of the disease and have developed many tools, including the songs, but also educational and informational materials such as comics and video to sensitize people," he says.The Chagas diseaseAlso called American trypanosomiasis, Chagas disease is an illness caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. It is transmitted mainly by contact with the feces of a vector insect that feeds on blood, but can also be transmitted through blood transfusions, organ transplants and from mother to child during pregnancy or childbirth . Although more than half of the infected patients have no symptoms, it is estimated that a third will suffer a cardiac disorders and a 10% digestive disorders (typically with dilation of the esophagus and/or the colon), neurological or mixed.According to the WHO, it estimates that about 7 million people worldwide are infected mainly in 21 Latin American countries, from the United States to Argentina and Chile, the area is considered endemic. Every year causes more than 22,000 deaths. For its high prevalence and low diagnosis, the WHO considered the Chagas disease as one of the 17 neglected tropical diseases worldwide."In Europe, under-diagnosis is very worrying, because less than 10% of cases are diagnosed," laments Dr. Gómez. The major barrier to change this situation is the social dimension and precisely in this area is the work of BeatChagas.BeatChagasUnder the umbrella of the Control Program of Chagas Disease Control Department of Neglected Tropical Diseases of WHO, BeatChagas initiative, created in 2014, encompasses an interdisciplinary team of players from the following institutions: Fundación Leo Messi the FC Barcelona Foundation, the International Health Program of the Catalan Institute of Health (PROSICS), VHIR, the AMBULATORIO de Doença de Chagas e Insuficiê,ncia cardíaca, PROCAPE, Federal University of Pernambuco (UPE), the group '¿de qué hablamos cuando hablamos Chagas?' (CONICET - UNLP - CIIE), the International Federation of the Associations of People affected by the Chagas Disease (FINDECHAGAS), and the same Control Program of Chagas Disease, NTD.The aim of the global initiative "BeatChagas" (Defeat silence, defeat fear, defeat Chagas disease) is to sensitize the people, institutions and various governments on the complexity of the problem of Chagas. To achieve this, this initiative shows and discusses, using a variety of strategies and tools, various aspects of Chagas, focusing on those affected.The website of http://bit.ly/2nx377g" BeatChagas contains informational, educational and communication materials (IEC) to support the objectives and implementation of the activities of the World Health Organization (WHO) in surveillance, prevention and control of the Chagas disease in the world.The different IEC materials, including text, songs, comics and videos, were created and distributed with the support of the WHO.