INTRODUCTION
malaria, helminths, anemia, preschool
COINFECTION, MALARIA, INFECTIONS, SCHISTOSOMIASIS, ANEMIA, MALARIA, DISEASES
Coinfection with malaria and helminths including soil-transmitted helminths (STH) and schistosomiasis are prevalent among preschool and school-age children living in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where environmental and host factors contribute to the coexistence of the multiple infections. Malaria and helminth coinfection is associated with anemia, poor physical and cognitive development, and increased mortality.Similarly, WHO recommends integrated approaches to the control and elimination of schistosomiasis and STH through preventive chemotherapy (PC), which comprises periodic administration of anthelminthic medicines (praziquantel for schistosomiasis and albendazole or mebendazole for STH). However, a WHO report on endemic countries across SSAcshowed a substantial reduction in PC coverage for preschool-age children from a coverage of 53.3 million in 2019 to barely 7 million in 2020. In the same year, nearly 71 million school-age children (44.1% coverage) were treated for STH, and approximately 55 million were treated for schistosomiasis (46.6% coverage). This development contributed to the launch of a new neglected tropical diseases (NTD) road map target that reinforced the importance of the paradigm shift from control to elimination of schistosomiasis and STH as public health problems in all endemic countries by 2030.The overlap in the epidemiology of malaria and helminths has been identified as a potential area to exploit for the development of an integrated control strategy that could help to achieve the WHO targets of eliminating malaria and helminths by 2030.Within the context of a three-arm randomized controlled trial designed to evaluate the feasibility, safety, and effectiveness of integrating helminth control with SMC (