Testing the feasibility of integrated approaches to interrupt the transmission of soil-transmitted helminths (STH): The DeWorm3 Project

Over 1.45 billion people are infected with soil-transmitted helminths (STH), including 845 million children, in some of the world’s poorest communities. The Natural History Museum (NHM), London in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), has established the DeWorm3 Project to test the feasibility of using innovative strategies to reduce and interrupt the transmission of STH.

As part of this project, a series of community-based cluster randomised trials comparing twice-yearly community-wide MDA following the discontinuation of community-wide MDA targeting LF elimination with the existing annual/biannual targeted MDA of pre-SAC and SAC (standard of care) will be conducted in Asia (India) and Africa (Benin and Malawi) where the burden of STH is still high.

The trial findings and accompanying implementation science research will generate evidence necessary for optimizing a delivery model based on LF elimination efforts that can inform future guidelines, policies, and operational plans in STH endemic countries.