As mentioned last Friday, the Global Atlas of Helminth Infections is a brand new tool that will track worm infections all throughout Africa. Below is the press release announcing its launch:
Partnership for Child Development
MAPPING THIS WORMY WORLD
New global atlas will transform deworming programmes
Maps showing the distribution and prevalence of worm infections in every African country will be launched today (17 August). These maps, called This Wormy World www.thiswormyworld.org, are the first of a series of Global Atlas of Helminth Infections which provide a unique, open-access, free information resource vital for planning and implementing deworming programmes.
It is estimated that more than 400 million children worldwide are infected with worms (helminths), 90 million in Africa alone. Worms damage children’s health, nutrition and educational achievement. Infections are most prevalent in poor communities where there is inadequate sanitation. The most common worm infections are soil-transmitted helminths (roundworm, whipworm and hookworm) and schistosomiasis.
This Wormy World identifies areas in a country that most urgently require mass treatment to control infection and predicts the risk of infection in areas where data is lacking. The Global Atlas of Helminth Infections has been produced by an international collaboration lead by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the Partnership for Child Development at Imperial College London. For a decade, the group has been gathering survey data to describe the distribution and prevalence of worm infection.
Announcing This Wormy World at the 12th International Congress of Parasitology in Melbourne, Australia, founder of the project, Dr Simon Brooker from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK and KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kenya, said, “Worm control is like a journey. The extent and location of the problem need to be mapped out in order to get treatment to where it is needed most. Until recently, much worm control has been a journey without reliable maps.”
» Read more: New Global Atlas will Transform Deworming Programmes
