The difficulties encountered by the vertical control programme of the gambiense human african trypanosomiasis in various countries, and the achievements of the primary health care policies on the other hand, justify the consideration of an alternative operational management model for this disease. The alternative model presented here is the integrated model. The authors define the concept of integration, discuss its justifications and describe the operational model. Integration is not a goal in itself and could be completed by a vertical approach of the problem in function of the local situations. Integration appears both as a rational response from the health care service to the needs of the population and as a research instrument aiming at answering more adequately the sleeping sickness problem.