The World Health Organization (WHO) says limited availability of praziquantel, the recommended medicine to treat schistosomiasis, also known as bilharziasis, is seriously hampering global efforts to control the disease.
Schistosomiasis is endemic in 76 countries, although transmission appears to have been interrupted in several countries. Out of an estimated 200 million cases worldwide, 180 million people are infected in Africa alone.
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“…Schistosomiasis … affects those least able to afford it … and therefore there is no commercial demand for praziquantel …. industry has not really come forward to produce the quantities that are required.” Dr Lester Chitsulo, WHO Schistosomiasis Control Programme, Geneva, Switzerland
Besides improving control methods and reporting of schistosomiasis cases to better plan control programmes, WHO feels it is necessary to advocate strongly for an increase in the production and availability of praziquantel, as preventive treatment is not reaching enough infected people or those at risk of infection
Scale up of schistosomiasis treatment should also be accompanied by investments in potable water and adequate sanitation by governments of endemic countries.
- Schistosomiasis: number of people treated worldwide in 2009, Weekly Epidemiological Record, 2011, 86:73–80
- Online Databank on Schistosomiasis