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In Brief: No funding, more worms in Mali
Source: IRIN
Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.
DAKAR, 8 May 2009 (IRIN) - After a donor-funded national schistosomiasis control program in Mali ended in 1992, the organ-destroying worm disease that affects about 200 million people
worldwide (World Health Organization) rebounded within 12 years, according to a recently published medical study. The disease can damage the bladder, ureters, kidneys, liver, spleen and
intestines. Even though endemic communities in Mali received intensive treatment and health education on schistosomiasis from 1982-1992, the infection was still as widespread nationwide in 2004 as
earlier decades, according to researchers. Despite the 10-year programme, study leader Archie Clements from Australia's The University of Queensland said control needs to be delivered even longer
– "over a very long time period" – to have a lasting impact. Since Malian government funding for schistosomiasis ended in 1998, the disease received little attention until the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation-funded Schistosomiasis Control Initiative started in 2004. pt/aj © IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.IRINnews.org
