The SCI has received an excellent A+ rating from the UK government's Department for International Development (DFID) for a third year running.

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

The project funds the support and evaluation of treatment programmes against schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminth infections in 10 sub-Saharan African countries. As part of this funding, DFID conduct rigorous annual reviews of activities.

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

Of note this year, was a demonstrated improvement in governance and financial management; maintaining strong collaborative partnerships, including those to help coordinate praziquantel donations; and sharing lessons learned from its programmes by utilising international networks as platforms, such as the NTD NGO Network.

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