Vall d'Hebron, together with the Consell de Col.legis Farmacèutics de Catalunya and supported by the Col.legi de Farmacèutics de Barcelona, has launched a pilot screening project for early detection of Chagas disease. The program is funded by La Marató de TV3. There's the participation of the Vall d'Hebron Research Institute's Infectious Diseases Research group (VHIR) and the services of Infectious Diseases, Microbiology and Preventive Medicine of the Vall d'Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus. It is aimed to adult born in a risk zone of Chagas disease and is initially being implemented in 8 pharmacies in 3 districts of Barcelona (Horta-Guinardó, Nou Barris and Sants-Montjuïc). It is expected to increase the number of pharmacies involved in the upcoming months.Chagas is a life-threatening disease, endemic in 21 countries in South America. It is transmitted by an insect found in rural and semi-rural areas. The prevalence is estimated to be 42,000 cases in Spain, with estimated 10% of diagnosis over the total cases. To face this underdiagnosis, new projects are needed in order to make screening tests more accessible to patients in endemic areas, increase the number of users performed and facilitate them to be later attended by specialized units.How will the screening work?The operation is like the rapid test carried out by pharmacies under the Early HIV Detection Program. With a small finger puncture and the use of a rapid diagnostic test (test strip) in a few minutes you can see the result (whether it is positive or not). Positive participants are provided with a date to attend a specialized medical visit in the Vall d'Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus. Those with a negative result are recommended to go to the doctor to confirm the negativity of the screening test. In parallel, 3 drops of blood will be collected on a drying paper that Vall d'Hebron will analyse to look for the sensitivity and specificity of the rapid diagnostic test.What are the objectives of the Program?Guillermo Bagaría, head of Pharmaceutical Care at COFB, explains that Chagas's disease "does not show up after a few years (after contracting). Due to the screening ease, using only a drop of blood, it is essential to make an effort to spread this test between the endemic population own of Latin America. The final goal of the project, then, is to "bring a screening tool closer to the population before there are complications".In fact, cardiac or digestive complications from Chagas disease appear in 40-60% of patients, usually several years after infection. That's why early diagnosis for risk patients is so important, as it allows to bring the diagnostic tools closer to the community."We have a community pharmacy system with a broad and equitable geographical distribution, as well as proven training and professionalism that enables these types of screening programs to be successfully developed. However, we must not forget that this is a research project and that its subsequent implementation will depend on the results and cost-effectiveness analysis" explains Dr. Adrián Sánchez Montalvá, of the Vall d'Hebron Infectious Diseases Service, and principal investigator of the Infectious Diseases Research group in VHIR.Awareness-raising actionsThe screening program will be accompanied by awareness-rising activities, such as informational sessions with primary care physicians in selected areas, pharmacists with active testing and International Health consultations with specialized units, among others.The program also aims to compare the effectiveness of three strategies for raising awareness and addressing the population at risk: presence of posters and leaflets in the pharmacy office (passive strategy), pharmacist intervention (active strategy), and active community strategy. In addition to the previous actions, the community agents that act as a link between the medical community and the population are involved through an action plan based on informative activities and awareness-rising during social events, as well as consulates.Successful screening projects from community pharmaciesCommunity pharmacies are a healthcare resource that works seamlessly with other health care providers. Its characteristics (territorial balance, accessibility, patient confidence, dense and interconnected network, capillarity, etc.) makes them very suitable for the design of opportunistic or systematic screenings of various pathologies.These health care facilities offer professional services to benefit patients and society as a whole. This is exemplified by the rapid test for early detection of HIV or the early detection program for colon and rectal cancer. With the participation of community pharmacies, these projects have yielded very optimistic results and is expected that this initiative should follow the same results.