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Review
. 2015 Oct 22;9(10):e0004214.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0004214. eCollection 2015.

The Case for Mass Treatment of Intestinal Helminths in Endemic Areas

Joan Hamory Hicks  1 , Michael Kremer  2 , Edward Miguel  1
Affiliations
Review

The Case for Mass Treatment of Intestinal Helminths in Endemic Areas

Joan Hamory Hicks et al. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. .

Abstract

Two articles published earlier this year in the International Journal of Epidemiology [1,2] have re-ignited the debate over the World Health Organization's long-held recommendation of mass-treatment of intestinal helminths in endemic areas. In this note, we discuss the content and relevance of these articles to the policy debate, and review the broader research literature on the educational and economic impacts of deworming. We conclude that existing evidence still indicates that mass deworming is a cost-effective health investment for governments in low-income countries where worm infections are widespread.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Comment in

  • Don't Shoot the Messenger.
    Walson JL. Walson JL. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2015 Oct 22;9(10):e0004166. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0004166. eCollection 2015 Oct. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2015. PMID: 26492330 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

References

    1. Aiken AM, Davey C, Hargreaves JR, Hayes RJ. Re-analysis of health and educational impacts of a school-based deworming programme in western Kenya: a pure replication. Int J Epidemiol. 2015. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Davey C, Aiken AM, Hayes RJ, Hargreaves JR. Re-analysis of health and educational impacts of a school-based deworming programme in western Kenya: a statistical replication of a cluster quasi-randomized stepped-wedge trial. Int J Epidemiol. 2015. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Miguel E, Kremer M. Worms: Identifying Impacts on Education and Health in the Presence of Treatment Externalities. Econometrica. 2004;72(1):159–217.
    1. Hicks JH, Kremer M, Miguel E. Commentary: Deworming externalities and schooling impacts in Kenya: a comment on Aiken et al. (2015) and Davey et al. (2015). Int J Epidemiol. 2015. - PubMed
    1. Aiken A, Davey C, Hargreaves J, Hayes R. Pre-analysis plan [Internet]. Washington: International Initiative for Impact Evaluation; 2013. [cited 2015 Jul 26]. http://www.3ieimpact.org/media/filer_public/2013/05/14/aiken_replication...

Supplementary concepts