In a post earlier today, we blogged about the progress made in Sierra Leone to reduce the burden of schistosomiasis and hookworm through mass drug administration programs for school-aged children. Successes like this give hope that treatment coverage will someday reach all children who unnecessarily suffer from the neglected tropical diseases. There is still much work to be done, however, to reach that goal.

In the case of schistosomiasis , the World Health Organization (WHO) reports that only 14 percent of those that have the disease are actually treated. The statistic, which was pulled out from last month’s Schistosomiasis Fact Sheet, appeared in an article by Examiner.com reporter Robert Herriman.

There is good news though. Earlier this week the pharmaceutical company Merck Serono announced that it is increasing its donation of praziquantel, the most effective treatment for schistosomiasis, from 25 million to 250 million tablets each year. The company will also conduct research to formulate a treatment for small children and will provide financial support to a WHO-led school awareness program for schistosomiasis .

Merck Serono isn’t the only pharmaceutical company that has committed to increase its efforts to fight NTDs. 13 pharmaceutical companies, governments of the United States, United Kingdom and United Arab Emirates, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Bank and other global health organizations came together on Monday to announce their commitments that will help eliminate 10 NTDs by 2020. If you missed it, we blogged about the event earlier this week.