Authors
S Knopp5; F Kabole2; S A Mohammed3; B Person4; D Rollinson1; 1 Natural History Museum; 2 Negelected Tropical Disease Control Programme, Ministry of Health, Tanzania; 3 Public Health Laboratory - Ivo de Carneri, Tanzania; 4 Schistosomiasis Consortium for Operational Research & Evaluation, University of Georgia, United States; 5 Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, University of Basel and Natural History Museum, London Discussion
Over the past decades, great progress has been made in reducing the number of dracunculiasis cases, in preventing and curing lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis, and in scaling up treatment for schistosomiasis. Achieving local or global elimination of these helminthiases by the year 2020 is the current aim. On-going elimination efforts are, however, challenged by conflicts zones, migration of people, (re)introduction of transmission, zoonotic infections, difficulties to achieve high treatment coverage and compliance, and insensitive or complex diagnostic methods. More effective and sustainable strategies are needed to reach the elimination goal. For this purpose, better use of existing drugs, new drugs, and combinations of different intervention approaches, including vector control, improved access to water, sanitation and hygiene, and behavioural change, should be developed and tested for operational use. Moreover, robust and highly sensitive and specific diagnostic tools with a high throughput potential are needed to better define endemic areas and target interventions, for accurate monitoring of the impact of interventions, for large-scale post-intervention surveillance, and for validation of elimination. 
