Integrating ecological approaches to interrupt schistosomiasis transmission: opportunities and challenges

The development of agenda for global schistosomiasis elimination as a public health problem generates enthusiasms among global health communities, motivating great interests in both research and practice. Recent China-Africa schistosomiasis control initiatives, aiming to enhance collaboration on disease control in African countries, reflect in part that momentum. Yet there is a pressing need to know whether the Chinese experiences can be translated and applied in African settings.

China's remarkable achievements in schistosomiasis control programme, associated experiences and lessons, have much to offer to those combating the disease. Central to the success of China's control programmes is a strategy termed "integrated control" - integrating environmental approaches (e.g. improved sanitation, agricultural and hydrological development and management), which target different phases of the parasite transmission system, to chemical-based drug treatment and mollusciciding. Yet, despite significant measurable public health benefits, such integration is usually based on field experience and remains largely uncharacterized in an ecological context. This has limited our knowledge on relative contributions of varying components of the integrated control programme to the suppression of disease transmission, making it challenging to generalize the strategy elsewhere. In this opinion article, we have described and discussed these challenges, along with opportunities and research needs to move forward.

There is an urgent need to formalize an ecological framework for the integrated control programme that would allow research towards improved mechanistic understanding, quantification, and prediction of the control efforts.