Food for Thought: Giulio De Leo on Triple Win Planetary Health Innovations in Africa

Schistosomiasis is a disease caused by water-borne parasitic worms. More than 250 million people are currently infected, with 90% of cases in sub-Saharan Africa. Initially hosted by water snails, the parasite’s larvae infect people when they come into contact with the contaminated water that rural and poor populations rely upon for their irrigation, washing and fishing. While treatments for the disease exist, the prevalence of reinfection greatly reduces their efficacy.

On Tuesday, October 3, 2023, the King Center on Global Development invited the Stanford student community to hear from Professor of Oceans Giulio De Leo. His talk covered the progress made in reducing and eliminating schistosomiasis by targeting the environmental reservoir of the disease: the water snail population. A first method is to introduce snail predators to the river’s ecosystem, in particular the native African river prawn which used to be present before the construction of the Diama Dam blocked its migration. A second method focuses on removing the aquatic vegetation where the snails thrive and using the harvested vegetation to produce compost for agriculture and feed for livestock, creating a win-win-win for planetary health with an ecological solution to promote human health, improve nutrition and fight poverty at the same time.