The deworming debate

Timeline: the deworming debate

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17 November: the debate continues on social media on the #dewormdebate, #deworming, and #wormwars hashtags. For updates from the LSHTM and Cochrane researchers, follow @LSHTMPress and @PaulGarnerWoof, as well as selected updates and RTs on @cochranecollab.

15 November: NPR considers 'The debate is on: to deworm or not to deworm?'

22 October: Paul Garner and David Taylor Robinson present 'How to make a case for deworming' at The Coalition for Operational Research on Neglected Tropical Diseases.

18 August: Columbia economist publishes an extensive and nonpartisan analysis.

14 August: BBC Radio 4 programme More or Less presents the deworming debate, including commentary from the lead author of the Cochrane Review (the deworming story begins at 09:00 of the recording, or read the print version).

4 August: Publication of a post on the World Bank blog which aims to provide a comprehensive anthology of online coverage and commentary.

1 August: A WHO advisory body affirms commitment to deworming programmes.

28 July: News analysis website Vox publishes an article summing up the relevant facts and points of discussion.

24 July: Giving Evidence, which 'works to get charitable giving based on evidence', analyzes the deworming debate from the philanthropic perspective.

23 July: Simultaneous publication of re-analysis of a school-based deworming programme in western Kenya in the International Journal of Epidemiology and an updated Cochrane Review incorporating this re-analysis. A press release from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) presents the key messages of the re-analysis, which generates significant press coverage, commentary, and analysis.

Related resources

Re-analysis of health and educational impacts of a school-based deworming programme in western Kenya: a pure replication (International Journal of Epidemiology)

Re-analysis of health and educational impacts of a school-based deworming programme in western Kenya: a statistical replication of a cluster quasi-randomized stepped-wedge trial (International Journal of Epidemiology)

Deworming drugs for soil-transmitted intestinal worms in children: effects on nutritional indicators, haemoglobin, and school performance (Cochrane Review)

Educational benefits of deworming children questioned by re-analysis of flagship study (LSHTM press release)

New research debunks merits of global deworming programmes (Guardian article)

Scientists are hoarding data and it’s ruining medical research (Ben Goldacre, BuzzFeed)

New deworming reanalyses and Cochrane Review (GiveWell Blog)

Worm wars: The fight tearing apart the global health community, explained (Vox article)

WHO advisory body upholds continued deworming of children against soil-transmitted helminthiases (WHO statement)

Worm wars: the anthology (World Bank Development Impact Blog)

Deworming debate on BBC Radio 4 programme More or Less