Global collaboration aims to tackle neglected tropical disease which affects millions worldwide
Published: 18 September 2025
Researchers at the University of Glasgow will lead a large international collaboration with partners from Cameroon, Côte D’Ivoire, Malawi and the UK, to better understand why schistosomiasis remains a devastating disease in many parts of Africa, despite more than two decades of mass drug administration.
Researchers at the University of Glasgow will lead a large international collaboration with partners from Cameroon, Côte D’Ivoire, Malawi and the UK, to better understand why schistosomiasis remains a devastating disease in many parts of Africa, despite more than two decades of mass drug administration.
The DRIVERS project, which has been awarded £8.1m funding from Wellcome, aims to identify the causes of schistosomiasis treatment failure and find evidence-based recommendations to improve disease control.
Schistosomiasis, a neglected tropical disease caused by parasitic worms, affects more than 240 million people worldwide, with the majority living in sub-Saharan Africa. Transmission is most common in impoverished areas where access to clean water and sanitation is limited forcing communities to use water infected with the parasites for everyday use.
The disease has severe health consequences, particularly for children, including anaemia, stunted growth, and impaired cognitive development. Long term schistosomiasis infection can lead to organ damage, including liver and kidney failure, and bladder cancer and cause severe reproductive issues and pain. Despite extensive efforts to combat schistosomiasis, the disease remains entrenched in many regions.
The DRIVERS project will bring schistosomiasis experts together, including researchers in field epidemiology, immunology, genetics and mathematical modelling, schistosomiasis control programme managers and regional health ministries. Together, they will investigate causes of poor treatment outcomes at both individual and community levels across diverse settings.
By collecting and analysing data from across Côte d’Ivoire and Malawi, the project hopes to refine estimates of the links between worm burden, parasite egg counts, and transmission dynamics; and identify the key drivers of reduced drug efficacy and rapid reinfection. The project then aims to use these to improve transmission models and better predict the impact of targeted treatment strategies in controlling the disease.
Professor Poppy Lamberton, study lead from the University of Glasgow, said: “I am excited to be working with global experts to really tease out why drug treatment is not effective in some people, and why certain communities continue to have such high transmission despite repeated mass drug treatments. Findings will be rapidly shared with other affected countries and colleagues at the World Health Organization, to provide evidence-based recommendations to help us move towards eliminating this debilitating disease as a public health problem.”
Professor Janelisa Musaya, Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Programme and Kamuzu University of Health Sciences, Malawi, co-lead on the project, said: "We are excited that through this project, we can begin to unravel the mystery of persistent schistosomiasis transmission and infection in hotspot areas. By generating evidence to inform prevention and control strategies, our involvement in this consortium makes a real contribution towards the Ministry of Health’s NTD strategy and efforts to eliminate schistosomiasis as a public health problem, in line with the WHO roadmap.”
Dr Jean Coulibaly, Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques en Côte d’Ivoire, co-lead on the project, said: “In the past fifteen years, I have been fascinated by the focal distribution of schistosomiasis, the persistence of transmission hotspots even after seven up to nine annual rounds of MDA in some locations and the non-response of some individuals to PZQ even after four separate doses, each two weeks apart. We have a unique opportunity to obtain scientifically rooted answers to all these knowledge gaps giving hope to populations affected by schistosomiasis in Côte d'Ivoire and beyond and will help to refine the overall strategy of the NTDs control programme.”
Dr Joaquin Prada, University of Surrey, co-lead on the project said “I am delighted to collaborate across disciplines in this project, where we can bridge key modelling gaps and support the development of sustainable guidance that will lead to schistosomiasis elimination”
Professor Matt Berriman, University of Glasgow, co-investigator on the project, said: “A critical part of this research will focus on untangling the many factors linked to schistosomiasis treatment outcomes, in order to understand which ones are actually driving those outcomes. By doing this, we can move beyond simply observing patterns and start identifying the root causes.”
The DRIVERS project includes researchers at the Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques in Côte d’Ivoire, Kamuzu University of Health Sciences and Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Research Programme in Malawi, Institute of Medical Research and Medicinal Plant Studies in Cameroon, and University of Glasgow, University of Surrey, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of Dundee and UnlimitHealth in the UK in collaboration with policy makers and Ministry of Health partners.
ENDS
For more information contact Elizabeth McMeekin or Ali Howard in the University of Glasgow Communications and Public Affairs Office on Elizabeth.mcmeekin@glasgow.ac.uk or ali.howard@glasgow.ac.uk
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First published: 18 September 2025
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