BREAKING NEWS, Health
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MERCK, a leading science and technology company, today, Monday, September 19, announced that the largest delivery of praziquantel tablets ever shipped to Angola recently arrived in Luanda, the capital of country. Angola has received around 4 million tablets for mass distribution to school children. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Angola is one of the most endemic countries for schistosomiasis worldwide. It is estimated that around 26 percent of the overall population requires treatment. Angola has been participating in the Merck Praziquantel Donation Program since 2008 and has received nearly 12 million tablets to date.
“We want to contribute to eliminating the insidious worm disease in order to help infected children to take part in the economic development of their home countries. With our donation of approximately 4 million tablets to WHO for Angola approximately 1.6 million school children can be treated – covering half of the country’s school-aged population in need of treatment. This shows that we are on the right track. However, we know that we alone cannot solve the problem with our tablets,” said Eduardo Carvalho, General Manager of Merck in Angola.
As part of its responsibility for society and within Health, one of its corporate responsibility strategic spheres of activity, Merck is supporting WHO in the fight against the worm disease schistosomiasis in Africa. Since 2007, more than 74 million patients, primarily school children, have been treated. To this end, Merck has donated over 340 million praziquantel tablets to WHO. Praziquantel is well tolerated and the most effective treatment to date for schistosomiasis. Merck is also supporting educational and awareness programs in Africa, developing schistosomiasis therapies for very young children and cooperating with partners in the Global Schistosomiasis Alliance. — African Media Agency, AMA
— Sep 19, 2016 @ 14:35 GMT
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