SCI is pleased to receive an excellent A+ rating from the UK government's Department for International Development (DFID) for a second year.

Along with the Centre for Neglected Tropical Diseases Liverpool, SCI have received funding from the DFID ICOSA (Integrated Control of Schistosomiasis and Intestinal Helminths in Sub Saharan Africa) project since 2010.

As part of this funding, DFID conduct rigorous annual reviews of SCI activities in the 10 countries supported through the project, to develop its rating.

Key SCI activities assessed include monitoring and evaluation of programmes, treatment coverage and cost per treatment achieved.

Of note this year, was a demonstrated increased effort to achieve greater treatment coverage of non-enrolled school-age children, which was a concern in previous evaluations.

As part of the review, DFID also provide an overall risk assessment for the programmes. This year, it has been confirmed as “Minor”, which is an excellent score.

The full review, including recommendations, will be published by DFID in the coming weeks and will be available here.