Posted: June 10, 2022

The Bangladesh STH (Soil Transmitted Helminthiasis) Summit 2022

Think Globally, Act Locally
Incorporating Data into STH Program Decisions

19th – 20th June, 2022

Since 2008, through successful implementation of school-based deworming programs throughout Bangladesh, the worm infestation rate has come down from 79.8% to 7.95%, leaving soil transmitted helminths no longer the public health problem that they once were.  This program is the first of many countries to reach this point and serves as an exemplar for other national programs. However, continued efforts are needed in areas where the risk of sickness from worms has been nearly eliminated. It is now time to review the available impact data and use it to focus intense deworming activities on these endemic areas of the country.

Children Without Worms (CWW) and the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MOHFW) in Bangladesh conducted an impact evaluation of mass drug administration (MDA) to assess the burden of soil-transmitted helminths (STH) in Bangladesh after 23 rounds of deworming activities. After surveying 10 districts using the Integrated Community-Based Survey for Program Monitoring (ICSPM) protocol, geospatial prediction mapping using the data generation from the surveys was performed, with the results classifying all 64 districts on the basis of predicted STH prevalence.

This important impact data will be discussed at the Bangladesh STH Summit 2022. CWW, hosted by the Bangladesh MOHFW, along with Helen Keller International, other country NTD STH programs, WHO, and pharmaceutical donor Johnson & Johnson, will attend the Summit in June 2022 at the Radisson Blu Dhaka Water Garden in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The meeting will be a hybrid event with both in-person and virtual participation by invitation only. We would like to request you to visit our website for further information about the Summit.

This is an exciting time for the global STH program, and we encourage all global health actors to Think Globally, Act Locally.