Schistosomiasis

Schistosomiasis remains a public health problem in several parts of the world, particularly in Africa where 91% of all the people requiring preventive chemotherapy for schistosomiasis live. Data on treatment are collected to measure the progress being made towards achieving the targets set by World Health Assembly resolutions to reach at least 75% all school-aged children who are at risk of morbidity from schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthiases. Of the 78 countries considered endemic for schistosomiasis, only 50 countries have populations requiring preventive chemotherapy. The total number of people in need of preventive chemotherapy globally in 2022 was 264.7 million, of which 135 million were school-aged children. Data reported in 2022 from 35 countries for treatment of school-aged children and from 25 countries for treatment of adults show that 93 million people received preventive chemotherapy for schistosomiasis globally, which is equivalent to 51.9% global coverage for school-aged children and 17.6% for adults at risk.