The project seeking to interrupt the transmission of intestinal worms (Deworm3) was officially launched in the meeting room of the Comé City Hall on Monday 11 December 2017. It is led by the Benin Clinical Research Institute (IRCB) in conjunction with the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development and a consortium comprising the University of Washington in the USA, the Natural History Museum in London and the Imperial College in the UK.
The DeWorm3 project involves children and adults. It was initiated by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to demonstrate the possibility of interrupting the transmission of three specific types of soil-transmitted helminths (Ascaris lumbricoides, Ancylostoma duodenale, Necator americanus and Trichuris trichiura) building on the success of lymphatic filariasis elimination platforms.
The project will involve a series of cluster randomised trials at community level in Asia and Africa (India, Malawi and Benin) to determine whether the continuation of mass treatments of albendazole on the scale of the community can interrupt the transmission of soil-transmitted helminths.
Benin was chosen as a result of a careful and highly competitive selection among approximately thirty candidate countries. The municipality of Comé was also chosen based on clearly defined demographic, sociological and epidemiological criteria likely to facilitate the success of the project. Certain criteria must be fulfilled on project intervention sites, such as:
The DeWorm3 project will last 5 years, with 3 years of intervention and 2 years of observation.