Ghent University

The Starworms project aims to strengthen the monitoring and surveillance of drug efficacy and anthelmintic resistance in soil-transmitted helminth (STH) programs. As such, it will support deworming programs in their quest to eliminate STHs as a public health problem by 2020. The specific objectives are (1) to validate diagnostic tools to monitor drug efficacy and the spread of anthelmintic resistance, (2) to create a surveillance system that monitors the global patterns of drug efficacy and spread of anthelmintic resistance in STH programs, and (3) to develop supporting tools to plan, analyze and follow up on surveys on drug efficacy and the spread of anthelmintic resistance.