Human helminth infections [intestinal nematode infections
such as Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura, and hookworm,
and schistosome infections such as Schistosoma
haematobium and S. mansoni] affect more than a quarter of
the world's population, with potential consequences for the
health and nutritional and educational development of infected
individuals. The advent of broad-spectrum anthelminthic
drugs that are cheap, safe, and simple to deliver has meant
that control has become a viable option for many countries.
Because helminth infections patterns are highlyheterogeneous,
methods to identify priority areas for intervention against
intestinal nematode and schistosome will enhance the eflcacy
of control. This paper describes the use of NOAA-AVHRR data
to develop logistic regression models that predict the probability
of infection prevalence greater than 50 percent, and
thus warrant mass treatment for intestinal nematodes and
schistosomes, according to WHO'S criteria. Moreover, by
overlaying the resulting risk maps on population surfaces, it
is possible to estimate the school-aged population size
requiring mass treatment and also provide an estimate of
program costs.