Living Our
For the past 10 years, we have been helping the fight against schistosomiasis. Through a partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO), our tablet donation program has provided over 500 million tablets to sub-Saharan Africa allowing more than 100 million children to be treated.
Donation
We have pledged to increase our annual donation to 250 million tablets per year and have already increased our production capacity accordingly. This represents an investment of 28 million US dollars each year. We will continue to donate treatment as long as it takes to eliminate the disease in Africa.
Partnerships
We also work closely with leading non-governmental organizations and helped to found the Global Schistosomiasis Alliance (GSA). The GSA is an international coalition of groups including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative who unite around to desire to eliminate schistosomiasis. We know that treatment alone is not enough to achieve elimination but instead a comprehensive approach involving improved water, sanitation, vector control and education is required.
Research
Currently, praziquantel treatment is not approved for children younger than six. We have thus formed a research consortium with seven partners to research and develop a paediatric formulation of the treatment.
Education
We are also involved in educational initiatives, which raise awareness on the causes, and dangers, of schistosomiasis. Our work in this area includes supporting educational programs at African schools and supplying schools and teachers with easy-to-understand materials for their lessons.
Merck & schistosomiasis:
The story so far...
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