Since 2017, the collaboration between Merck, the Ethiopian Ministry of Health and NALA has achieved one of the strongest reductions in schistosomiasis ever recorded in Ethiopia. In Mizan Aman, the capital of Bench Sheko, prevalence dropped by 89.9 percent. This result demonstrated the power of consistent health education, community engagement and coordinated local action.
Today the partnership is focused on sustaining these gains by strengthening the systems that keep prevention in place. With Merck’s support, NALA assisted the Ministry of Health during recent standard of care treatment rounds in the four project districts, helping ensure high coverage and strong mobilization in every community. The partnership also trained local teams to monitor environmental risks and mapped seventy four high-risk water bodies. This information allows districts to respond quickly and prevent reinfection.
Government coordination has become a defining feature of this phase. All project districts now hold routine review meetings that bring health, education and water offices together to plan jointly and monitor progress. Seventy nine officials participated in recent sessions that strengthened accountability and improved alignment across sectors. The integrated monitoring framework, now validated and prepared for rollout, will enable districts to track hygiene behavior, WASH functionality and disease trends in a consistent and structured way.
The wider partnership has also contributed to a major regional milestone. Hygiene and NTD prevention content has now been integrated into Amharic textbooks for Grades 1 to 6, reaching more than one thousand five hundred schools. This step ensures that health education becomes part of children’s learning for many years.
Together these efforts are building durable systems for long-term control of schistosomiasis in Bench Sheko. By reinforcing prevention, strengthening government capacity and supporting locally led action, the Merck and NALA partnership is helping the region move from rapid impact toward lasting resilience.