World Without Worms is a Canadian-based student-run initiative that advocates for school-based deworming programs. Below is a submission from its founders. 
By: Abby Emdin, Fiona Emdin, Laura Hallsworth
In our community, we are known as the less than flattering, “Worm Girls.” We don’t mind. Although the issue of parasitic worms may possibly be the least glamorous around, we have come to realize that among teenagers it is also one of the most poorly supported and misunderstood issues in health. We stumbled upon it ourselves. After participating in our high school’s humanitarian trip to Kingston, Jamaica, we returned determined to try to find a way to improve the lives of students in developing countries. With some research to determine where our efforts could be directed, we learned that over two billion people are infected by parasitic worm infections. Three hundred million of these are stricken with severe illness; half are school-aged children. We learned that chronic infections decrease the school attendance, literacy and life-time earnings of infected students.
We were amazed to discover that this serious problem had a very inexpensive treatment – less than 50 cents for medication per child. World Without Worms, our initiative, was born. For the last year, we have worked to raise money for sustainable, school-based deworming programs, by challenging people in our community to match the money spent on deworming their pets, and through a host of other fundraisers. We spread the word through our website, and through media interviews. We are working to expand our fundraising efforts to other schools, colleges and universities. One of our members, Abby Emdin, is currently involved in a competition for “Canada’s Next Top Young Philanthropist” where the winner is awarded ten thousand dollars for their cause. We thought the contest would be a great way to raise the profile of this issue. Please visit our website and lend your support at the contest site by voting daily until July 8th.
Leprosy, Possibly the Most Annoying NTD
March 2nd, 2011By: Alanna Shaikh
Here’s the thing about leprosy. It’s totally, completely, absolutely treatable; World Health Organization (WHO) provides free drugs to make treatment even easier. Leprosy progresses slowly – like 20 years slowly and it is not infectious. So what the heck? Why can’t we just eliminate leprosy already? Why do people still get this disease? Why does it go untreated long enough that we still see pictures like this?
WHO pronounced the elimination of leprosy as no longer a public health threat, in 2000. That means that the disease has a prevalence of less than one case per 10,000 people[1], largely because multi-drug therapy for leprosy is really effective. (And, as I previously mentioned, free as the result of donations from Novartis and the Novartis Foundation for Sustainable Development.)
But “not a public health threat” doesn’t mean “gone”. The 2008 disease burden for leprosy was 213,086 cases. Not a big number, I admit, but not zero. I want zero. Why can’t we have zero?
The reasons we are not at zero are, of course, depressingly familiar. Though the drugs to treat leprosy are free, transportation and administration costs are not. You need a functional health system to diagnose leprosy, start patients on treatment, and make sure that they are able to finish their treatment.
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Posted in Commentary, Global Health, grassroots, MDA, NTDs, opinion
Tags: education Global Health leprosy NTDs sanitation