By Brian Blum - February 18, 2018
Originally appeared here in Israel21c
More than 80 percent of schoolchildren in the Bench Maji zone of southwest Ethiopia are affected by schistosomiasis, commonly known as “snail fever.” The disease is caused by parasitic flatworms and can infect the urinary tract and intestines.
Schistosomiasis is treatable with medication and changes in infrastructure and behavior, such as the availability and use of clean water and toilets. Getting that combination into rural Ethiopia has been a decade-long challenge for the NALA Foundation.
This week, NALA, which was founded by renowned Israeli immunologist Dr. Zvi Bentwich, signed a three-year partnership with pharmaceutical giant Merck, which has donated more than 19 million praziquantel tablets in Ethiopia since 2007, helping some seven million children to fight the disease. Read More