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Programme Against African Trypanosomosis (PAAT)
©FAO/A. K. Kimoto

African trypanosomosis is a lethal parasitic disease caused by unicellular organisms named trypanosomes. The disease is cyclically transmitted by the bite of infected tsetse flies and it affects both humans (‘sleeping sickness’) and livestock (‘nagana’).

Trypanosomosis lies at the heart of Africa’s struggle against poverty, and it is endemic in more than thirty countries among the least developed of the world. Probably more than any other disease affecting both livestock and people, trypanosomosis constrains agricultural production and causes food insecurity in vast and fertile swaths of sub-Saharan Africa.


An African continent where trypanosomoses no longer constrain sustainable agriculture, rural development nor do they threaten human health.


Assist affected countries in lifting the constraints that tsetse-transmitted trypanosomoses pose to the attainment of the sustainable development goals, including ending poverty and hunger, ensuring health and gender equality, and combating climate change and its impacts.