A collaboration with the African Ministers' Council on Water (AMCOW) for policy recommendations and guidelines on cross-sectoral measures for integrated water resources across schistosomiasis endemic regions.
  • Dates1 August 2022 to 31 January 2025
  • SponsorÂãÁÄÖ±²¥ EPSRC Impact Acceleration Award
  • Funded£37,634
  • PartnersThe African Ministers' Council on Water (AMCOW) - all 55 member African states have an allocated AMCOW country representative
    The Global Schistosomiasis Alliance (GSA)

Schistosomiasis is a water vector-borne disease and a public health problem in tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and South America. It kills approximately 280,000 people annually, ranking second only to malaria as the most common parasitic disease. This project aims to influence policy across 55 African countries and produce recommendations on integrated water resources management aimed at reducing cases of schistosomiasis. Guidance documents, lay summaries and position papers will be used to guide construction and retrofitting of dams which are specific to the continent’s water resources and provision of water supply services needs without compromising health.

Progress update

Position papers and lay summaries have been drafted which will have a huge policy impact through AMCOW which will encourage 55 member states and other relevant organisations to incorporate as part of their policy. The position papers and guidance documents has detailed best practices on man-made water bodies (dams, irrigation schemes), their health and socio-economic benefits, and necessary risks mitigation measures to maximise the positive impact of water infrastructure. There is also provision for ensuring adequate assessment of schistosomiasis and other water borne vector diseases and transmission risk for dams and irrigation schemes in environmental impact assessments (EIA) reports.

Further information