The partners work towards delivering permanent relief from worm-induced disease for millions of poor people. The principal effort has been made against schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis but the PPC is ready to promote control of other worm-induced diseases according to national needs and priorities. Effective control measures have been developed and tested. The major challenge is the scale of the problem. How can deworming be extended to embrace all the desperately poor people in need of this health-giving endeavour? Deworming is defined as the delivery of safety-tested, single dose, oral anthelminthic drugs for the reduction of both the subtle and the overt morbidity that accompanies worm infections.

This report from the third meeting of the PPC:

• summarizes successes achieved in worm control

• explains why deworming is such a highly cost-effective investment for health

• proposes that deworming become part of a wider multidisease approach for improving the health and well-being of poor people

• shows how deworming will contribute to meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)