"On 28 July 2011, the 11th Anniversary of Public Health Laboratory Ivo de Carneri (PHL-IdC) will be celebrated in Pemba Island, Zanzibar, United Republic of Tanzania. This Laboratory, which has been a WHO Collaborating Centre for Schistosomiasis and Intestinal Parasitic Infections since 2005, has a long-standing history of schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis control, and evidence-based information on the impact of periodic deworming as well as on efficacy and safety of anthelmitic drugs combination. This work has contributed to lay down the WHO strategy of Preventive Chemotherapy.
On the same day, the Tokomeza Kichocho, the programme for elimination of schistosomiasis transmission from Zanzibar, will be launched. The Tokomeza Kichocho is a project funded from SCORE (Schistosomiasis Consortium for Operational Research and Evaluation). It is a five years project which is embedded within the Zanzibar NTD Control Programme to monitor and evaluate the joined efforts of preventive chemotherapy with praziquantel, snail control, and behavioural change for the elimination of urinary schistosomiasis from Zanzibar islands.
The Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases at WHO, Geneva; University of Georgia, Atlanta, US; the Natural History Museum, London, UK; the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative at Imperial College, London, UK; the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland; the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK; the Ivo de Carneri Foundation, Milan, Italy, are among the partners of this challenging project.
The event will be witnessed by international partners, local collaborators, high authorities of the Ministry of Health Zanzibar, WHO officers, and officiated by the second Vice President of Zanzibar."