Schistosomiasis in Africa: An Emerging Tragedy in Our New Global Health Decade

Despite new information that the disease burden of schistosomiasis in Africa may be equivalent to malaria or HIV/AIDS and a simple annual anthelminthic treatment for this disease is available for less than 50 cents per person including delivery costs, we now know that fewer than 5% of the infected population is receiving coverage.To date, this situation represents one of the first great failures of the ''global health decade'' that began in 2000.