Engagement of the National Institute of Parasitic Diseases in control of soil-transmitted helminthiasis in China.

Soil-transmitted helminthiases (STHs) have been widely transmitted in China and the control of STHs was initiated by NIPD-CTDR since its foundation. Three national surveys on STHs have been carried out in China, and the infection rate has dropped from 53.58% in the first national survey (1988-92) to 4.49% in the third national survey (2014-16) due to strong interventions including mass drug administration, health education and environment improvement. National surveillance of STHs started in 2006 and has been implemented successively until now, which allows to understand the endemic status and trends of STHs prevalence in China. Surveillance has been expanded to 30 provinces of China since 2016. Integrated pilot programmes have been implemented between 2006 and 2009, in which an integrated strategy, with health education and control of infection sources as key components, was adopted. Since 2019, new control pilots have been started, which will be continued for five successive years to further explore appropriate control strategies in the current "new era". With the decline of infection rate of STHs, China is approaching the elimination stage for STHs. In order to achieve this final target, poverty alleviation programmes should be integrated with precise control measures, according to real situations.