DeWorm3: Charting A Path Towards STH Elimination

An estimated 1.5 billion people, representing a quarter of the world’s population, are infected with intestinal worms, known as soil-transmitted helminths (STH)1. These parasites disproportionately affect disadvantaged populations, particularly people in impoverished communities living without access to adequate water and sanitation. People with heavy or chronic STH infections are at risk of experiencing significant disease and disability, particularly children and women of reproductive age. Economic development, improvements in water and sanitation, and intermittent targeted mass treatment (deworming) can help prevent the morbidity associated with these infections. However, in many places the reach of these programs is insufficient or may need to be continued for the foreseeable future as infections persist. A fundamental rethink of the approach to STH infections is needed if we are to develop effective, sustainable and scalable solutions to address this enormous public health problem.

The Natural History Museum, supported by funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, launched the DeWorm3 project to test a strategy designed to move beyond the control of these infections, establishing whether the spread of these diseases in specific locations can be stopped and the problem eliminated. In collaboration with governments, charities and an international network of universities, a multi-country, community-based trial is underway. DeWorm3 differs from previous initiatives in scale and scope. In sites across Benin, India and Malawi not only the children most affected by these infections are being targeted but all members of the communities (including adolescents and adults) where these infections occur. DeWorm3 aims to determine if it is possible to not just control but to eliminate these debilitating infections, removing them from daily life and relegating them to history.

Data collected as part of the DeWorm3 trial are already shaping how STH and other diseases are approached globally. We look forward to continued collaboration with policymakers, organisations and individuals to achieve the goal of eliminating STH, changing lives across the world for the better.