Female Genital Schistosomiasis
Cloaked in white robes, chanting worshippers sink into Zambia’s Kafue river with arms stretched to the sky as their baptism unfolds. But underneath the water’s rippling surface lurk parasitic worms, hunting for their next victim.
Trematode worms are endemic across this region. After being released by freshwater snails they search for a human host, and burrow into the skin. Once in the bloodstream, the parasites travel through the host’s organs, with potentially fatal consequences.
Across sub-Saharan Africa, the World Health Organization estimates that 56 million women and girls are infected by the parasite, which triggers a disease called female genital schistosomiasis (FGS) – known colloquially as bilharzia or snail fever.
Cloaked in white robes, chanting worshippers sink into Zambia’s Kafue river with arms stretched to the sky as their baptism unfolds. But underneath the water’s rippling surface lurk parasitic worms, hunting for their next victim.
Trematode worms are endemic across this region. After being released by freshwater snails they search for a human host, and burrow into the skin. Once in the bloodstream, the parasites travel through the host’s organs, with potentially fatal consequences.
Across sub-Saharan Africa, the World Health Organization estimates that 56 million women and girls are infected by the parasite, which triggers a disease called female genital schistosomiasis (FGS) – known colloquially as bilharzia or snail fever.
At the Kafue river, the congregation gathers on the dense river banks. They know this water is rife with the disease, but believe they are protected.
“It cannot touch us as we have come for prayers,” says the group’s leader, who has a large red cross painted over her white cloak. “We have got protection from God.”
The Boiling Pool at the foot of Victoria falls, Livingstone.
The Maramba River which contains the parasite leading to Schistosomiasis
A boy collects water from the Maramba River which contains the parasite leading to Schistosomiasis .
Dr Mubita, "Witch Doctor" and traditional healer who is often consulted on medical matters including schistosomiasis, at his home, Livingstone.
Kasika Mkwakti, nurse and midwife at Maramba Clinic, Livingstone.
Raw sewage drains into the Maramba River.
A schoolgirl crosses the Maramba River.
Planorbidae snails, the intermediate host for the trematode parasite which causes Shistosomiasis.
Girls carry drinking water from a well in Kanyama compound, with a population of 400,000, in the capital of Lusaka.
An open water well in Kanyama Compound. When the area floods, sewage seeps down into the well.
People from Lusaka attend a baptism on the Kafue river.
At risk. Prisca aged 13, on the banks of the Zambezi river.