Fighting Neglected Tropical Diseases

learn more about Altruist’s October nonprofit

Last month, we featured GiveWell, a charity that recommends outstanding nonprofits based on in-depth analysis. They have incredibly high standards and have selected only four “Top Charities” for 2016. This month’s nonprofit is one of those four — the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative (SCI). SCI works to help those who suffer from and are at risk of becoming infected with two of the five most common neglected tropical diseases in sub-Saharan Africa, schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminths (intestinal worms). The impact of schistosomiasis is second only to malaria, the most devastating parasitic disease, with more than 250 million people infected worldwide. Estimated to kill around 280,000 people annually, the disease is transmitted through human contact with contaminated fresh water where the parasite bores through unbroken skin and migrates to the liver where it grows to one centimeter in length. The male and female worms pair off and migrate to the blood vessels around the intestines or the bladder.

SCI aims to fight this disease by collaborating with governments across sub-Saharan Africa to create or scale up mass drug administration programs for children and other high-risk groups using donated drugs praziquantel and albendazole. SCI assists endemic countries to access the drug donation programs, provides technical assistance and extra funding, and after treatment is given, conducts research, monitoring and evaluation of the processes and outcomes of its programs. SCI is highly-rated by GiveWell because they have demonstrated huge success with their programs consistently over many years and are very cost-effective. Their work has a huge impact on the health of children, and is saving millions of lives.

We are excited to see how our October dollars can help raise awareness and provide treatment for this often over-looked, yet common disease.

Learn more about the Altruist community and how you can make your dent $1 at a time at joinAltruist.com.