Planet under Pressure

engaged in this fight, the company initiated
the Global Schistosomiasis Alliance,
which is developing holistic solutions to
advance the control and elimination of
this serious parasitic disease.
Merck donates up to 250 million
tablets per year
Also called bilharzia, schistosomiasis
is a parasitic flatworm infection that is
particularly difficult to control. The WHO
estimates that more than 240 million
people per year require treatment, with
approximately 200,000 deaths annually.
Schistosomiasis takes a particularly
heavy toll on children.
The disease can be treated effectively
with a drug from Merck, which donates
up to 250 million tablets a year to the
WHO – totaling more than one billion
since 2007.
However, medicine donations and drug
treatment alone are not enough to eliminate
schistosomiasis. It will take an integrated
approach that includes access
to safe drinking water, sanitation, and
hygiene. In addition, vector control can
disrupt the life cycle of the parasites in
the snails that serve as an intermediate
host.
Health education is also a key component
of these efforts. Merck engages in a variety
of partnerships to provide support
for preventive healthcare. For instance, it
has joined forces with the NALA Foundation
and the Ethiopian Federal Ministry
of Health to run a pilot in the Bench
Maji region of southwestern Ethiopia.
There, they are testing how to reduce the
spread of schistosomiasis by distributing
customized educational material and
improving water, sanitation, and hygiene
facilities through a community-based
approach. The village communities are
deeply involved in these efforts. Since
the end of 2017, the hygiene awareness
campaigns have reached 250,000 people
in southwestern Ethiopia, almost half of
whom are school-aged children.
Expanding networks to fight
schistosomiasis
The overall results from the past 10 years
show that efforts to control and eliminate
schistosomiasis have been thoroughly
successful. For instance, 71 percent of all
children in need were treated for the disease
in 2017, and the prevalence – that
is, the proportion of people infected with
schistosomiasis – declined significantly.
Dr. Johannes Waltz, head of the Merck
Schistosomiasis Elimination Program,
says, “Going forward, it may thus actually
be possible to eliminate schistosomiasis
in some parts of Africa if systematically
diagnosed and treated.”
In the immediate future, Merck intends to
step up its activities to eliminate schistosomiasis
on all levels. “We want to optimize
our tablet deliveries, make the tablets
accessible to further impacted populations
– especially young children – and
take a more integrated approach,” says
Dr. Waltz, detailing the next set of goals.
The aim is to have a suitable drug to treat
schistosomiasis in children under six
available by 2022. Since 2012, Merck has
been collaborating within a consortium
to develop a pediatric version. Scientists
are working on an optimal formulation
of praziquantel, which is the standard of
care treatment for pre-school children.
The new medicine – a small, orally dispersible
tablet – was successfully tested
in a clinical Phase II trial in Ivory Coast.
The pivotal Phase III study in children
three months to six years of age is ongoing
in Ivory Coast and Kenya.
Internally, Merck consolidates its research
and development activities to
improve schistosomiasis treatment under
its Global Health Institute, which also
coordinates the development of other
new medicines and vaccinations against
infectious diseases. Founded in 2017,
the Global Health Institute has played
a big part in helping Merck achieve
its commendable fourth place in the
Access to Medicine Index, which assesses
20 of the world’s largest research-based
pharmaceutical companies on their
actions to improve access to medicines in
more than 100 low- and middle-income
countries.
Through its numerous efforts to defeat
schistosomiasis, Merck is helping
achieve Sustainable Development Goal
3, which prioritizes people’s health and
well-being. The company’s activities
particularly support SDG Target 3.3,
which focuses on eliminating NTDs
by 2030.
Global Goals Yearbook 2020 125