Leveraging malaria microscopy infrastructure to diagnose common and neglected skin diseases using direct microscopy in Sumba, Indonesia

Common and neglected tropical skin diseases remain a substantial public health challenge and are a major global cause of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs).1 In low-resourced settings, access to diagnostics and specialist care are often limited, placing the responsibility of care largely on frontline healthcare workers (HCWs). Many frontline HCWs lack adequate training in identifying common and neglected skin diseases resulting in misdiagnosis and treatment delays. Addressing this gap requires innovative and context-specific approaches to mitigate the burden of skin diseases and improve the access to and quality of care.