29 November 2016 | Geneva | Cairo −− The World Health Organization (WHO) will support Egypt in implementing a domestically funded US$ 10 million project aimed at eliminating schistosomiasis.

The project, spread out over five years, also involves snail control and the promotion of other public health interventions such as access to safe water, sanitation and health education.

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25 November 2016 | Geneva –– An important meeting aimed at accelerating efforts towards achieving coverage of 75% of the world’s preschool-aged and school-aged children treated for intestinal parasitic worms and schistosomes (bilharzia) gets underway on Monday 28 November 2016.
Discussions will include finding ways to encourage the production of medicines; ensure their availability to meet growing demand; future plans to reach adult populations; and, the development of an appropriate methodology to verify interruption of transmission.

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16 February 2016 | Geneva −− The World Health Organization (WHO) is urging countries to implement WHO recommendations on treating all peoples affected by schistosomiasis (bilharzia), beyond the traditional target of treating only school-age children.

Scaled up interventions have significantly improved global coverage of treatment among school-children and other at-risk groups. In 2014, a global coverage of more than 20% of all people requiring treatment for the disease was achieved.

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28 October 2015 | Geneva −− The National Institute of Parasitic Diseases (NIPD) of the Chinese Centre for Diseases Control and Prevention in Shanghai, China is a leader in the fight against parasitic diseases, with an influential track record of publishing cutting-edge science about parasite biology, epidemiology, and immunology for more than 60 years.

On 17 October, the NIPD was renamed as the WHO Collaborating Centre for Tropical Diseases which means its research activities will encompass other tropical diseases.

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