About worms

Chronic, long-term and intense infection with soil-transmitted helminths (STH) and schistosomes can hold back children's physical and mental development and learning. Damage to the human lymphatic system caused by lymphatic filariasis (LF) can be both debilitating and socially stigmatizing. Fortunately these effects can be prevented or reserved through the use of simple drugs that are delivered by mass treatment of school children (STH and schistosomes) or entire communities (LF).

Planning and implementing such treatment programmes with limited resources means targeting areas of highest infection prevalence. Maps of worm distribution that can be used by control programme staff are therefore invaluable. As control is implemented, maps of the progress in control can help highlight success and indicate where further effort is required. This Atlas provides these maps, often based on survey data that were unpublished or only accessible from private and otherwise restricted sources, in a freely available, open-access format.