This weeks marks the 6th meeting of the Mebendazole Advisory Committee (MAC), an independent group comprised of experts with a variety of science and health backgrounds. MAC is the advisory group for Children Without Worms (CWW), an organization working to reduce the burden of soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections, which occurs amongst the poorest children living in tropical and subtropical nations. Children Without Worms has partnered with Johnson & Johnson and The Task Force for Global Health (formerly the Task Force for Child Survival and Development), both of whom have generously donated the drug Mebendazole, a treatment for worm infestations.

Approximately 20 percent of the world is either infected or at risk for STH infections. Children between the ages of 5 and 15 years old suffer the most, and make up one-third of the global STH burden. Children with chronic infections are at increased risk for physical and mental impairments, which can lead to learning disabilities and poor school performance. Children can also be affected before they are even born – infected  pregnant women are at high risk for low birth-weight babies and poor milk production. Additionally, their infants have higher rates of malnutrition and mortality. Furthermore, pregnant women who develop anemia while infected are three and a half times more likely to die in childbirth.

The most effective prevention methods for controlling chronic STH transmission include both proper sanitation management efforts and educational campaigns aimed at the use of latrines. As previously mentioned, two drugs are available to treat active STH infection, Albendazole and Mebendazole.

In 2001, the World Health Assembly passed a resolution to eliminate STH as a public health problem by regularly treating 75 percent of at risk children by 2010. Unfortunately, less than 20 percent of this population was reached with deworming treatment in 2005. This pressing global health issue must be addressed now and we need your help. To see how you can help control STH transmission, please visit the Global Network’s and CWW’s websites. Together we can control these infections, and assist in providing a better life for the bottom billion!