Research projects
The Schistosoma Persistence, Hybrid Epidemiology & Resistance Evolution (SPHERE) project is a three-year One Health GCNTDR-funded research and policy programme aimed to elucidate the biological drivers of schistosomiasis persistence, using zoonotic hybrid schistosomes as a policy-relevant model. Through an international partnership, it integrates epidemiology, ecology, evolution, genomics and mathematical modelling to generate evidence that supports sustainable control and elimination strategies.
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Growth, Resilience and Outcomes associated With NTDs (GROWN) was a Research England and RVC GCNTDR-funded research and capacity-building rapid impact project in partnership with SEAMEO RECFON in Indonesia. Building on the Action Against Stunting Hub, it examined how NTD infections and early-life factors influence children’s growth and development. The project also explored how changing risk factors as children reach school age affect infection and health outcomes, while strengthening Indonesian capacity in mathematical modelling and biostatistical analysis. Learn more.
The Zoonoses in Emerging Livestock Systems (ZELS) project's One Health approach recognised the role of hybridised parasites of humans and livestock in perpetuating transmission of human schistosomiasis. The work also highlighted unmet needs and the misuse of praziquantel, the only effective drug for schistosomiasis, in livestock, and the risk of drug resistance.
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The FibroScHot project aimed to elucidate the periporatal fibrosis in a high morbidity region of Uganda This was a phase IV, single centre, randomised superiority trial that was blinded to the primary outcome assessors, but open-label to all other investigators and participants. The active treatment phase lasted two years.
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The DeWorm3 Study was a series of community cluster randomised controlled trials that aimed to determine the feasibility of interrupting soil-transmitted helminth transmission (STH) in focal geographical areas by expanding the targeted population and the frequency of mass drug administration with albendazole.
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The TUMIKIA Project aimed to determine whether combining school- and community-based deworming is more effective at controling and eliminating soil-transmitted helminths (STH or intestinal worms) in Kenya than school-based deworming alone. The two-year trial will provide the drug albendazole to all residents from 150 communities in Kwale County, Kenya.
GCNTDR, in collaboration with the Action Against Stunting Hub, developed a special issue on the biological, biomedical and environmental drivers of stunting, including NTDs. The collection explored how infection, nutrition, gut health and environmental factors contribute to childhood stunting.
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The Geshiyaro Project was created to research optimal programming for soil-transmitted helminths and schistosomiasis in the Wolaita zone in Ethiopia. The six-year research initiative will assess three different strategies for delivering drugs and WASH interventions for schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminths control.