Chapter 2 - Human Schistosomiasis in the Economic Community of West African States: Epidemiology and Control

Abstract

The present study aims to report on the epidemiology and control of schistosomiasis in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which represents 30% of the total population of the African continent. Fifteen states are included in ECOWAS, three of which were elected by the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative: Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, the other 12 countries being Benin, Cape Verde, Cote d'Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. For each country we updated, according to the different administrative regions of the country, the epidemiological data concerning the prevalence of human schistosomiasis and the prevalence of snail schistosomiasis and the control programmes each country is developing. The study highlights the common data in ECOWAS regarding the status of the infected people, the causes of schistosomiasis infection, the epidemiology of Schistosoma haematobium and Schistosoma mansoni in relation to their respective snail intermediate hosts, Bulinus and Biomphalaria. The new epidemiological approaches generating maps of zones of disease risk will provide helpful tools for schistosomiasis control.