project

Back

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.”

Down Arrow Up Arrow mobile-icon Facebook