Ghanaian scientists join the hunt for a cure for a disease affecting 250 million people

The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana, has teamed up with the nonprofit Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative to search for new treatments for schistosomiasis — a parasitic disease (also called bilharzia) that affects more than 250 million people, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. KNUST’s lab will test around 100 drug candidates against the African form of the parasite, aiming for next-generation treatments, since today’s main drug mostly kills adult worms. It is the initiative’s first drug-discovery partnership on the African continent, funded by Germany’s research ministry — and two Ghanaian researchers will train in screening methods at the University of Bonn.