Merck, WHO collaborate on new schistosomiasis drug for school children

A girl holding pills. [Courtesy/GettyImages]

Akinyi* (not her real name), a 12-year-old girl from Nyalenda, Kisumu County, had been experiencing recurring abdominal pain and diarrhoea for several months. Her parents, subsistence fishers, had taken her to a local health centre, where she was treated for intestinal worms. However, her symptoms persisted.

A team of healthcare workers from a nearby clinic visited them as part of a schistosomiasis (commonly known as bilharzia) screening programme. "They did tests on our daughter and told us that she was infected with a parasite that led to those symptoms like diarrhoea," said John Oluoch, Akinyi's father.