Australian doctors lead mass antiparasitic rollout in Pacific
Ivermectin is being given to all residents of the Solomon Islands in a bid to cut scabies by 90%
Australian doctors are leading a mass rollout of ivermectin in the Solomon Islands in the world’s first population-wide program to treat and prevent scabies.
The antiparasitic will be delivered to more than 700,000 inhabitants of the Pacific archipelago over the next few months.
Scabies is rampant in the Solomon Islands, with one in four people, and about a third of children under 10 years, affected at any one time.
The Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) in Melbourne is leading the program, and says it’s the first time the parasite has been tackled across an entire nation.
