In Zanzibar, as elsewhere, parasitic worm disease hits children hardest. It causes them pain, damages their organs, and impairs their physical and cognitive development. Yet the very youngest have had no access to suitable treatment. Now, a new medication means they can get the protection they need.
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The parasitic disease schistosomiasis (aka bilharzia) affects children the most. They tend to have the highest levels of worm infestation and large numbers of eggs trapped in their tissues. This causes pain and organ inflammation and harms children’s physical and cognitive development. Yet while infection levels have dropped for school-aged children as a result of treatment, no suitable treatment has existed for the estimated 50 million preschool children at risk from the disease. Until now.
We will support the Ministry of Health in Zanzibar to deliver a newly-available pediatric medication to 20,000 children aged 3-5 years through the country’s existing mass treatment programme, so they can live free from parasitic worm disease. The treatment will be given to children in schools and in communities by teachers and community drug distributors trained specifically to work with younger children.
