Female genital schistosomiasis (FGS) is a hidden disease caused by the Schistosoma parasite which affects millions of girls and women in Africa with limited access to safe, clean water. This disease can greatly increase the risk of HIV and cervical cancer, and cause infertility, miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy. FGS is easily treated and preventable. But due to lack of awareness in healthcare workers, it is often unrecognised and misdiagnosed as a sexually transmitted infection. Women suffering from this disease are often stigmatised in their family or community.

Bridges has pursued initiatives to increase awareness and ensure that those working with women and girls at-risk understand this parasitic infection and mainstream prevention and treatment into their programs. When these women and girls have access to the health care, this is an opportunity to prevent and treat FGS and will in turn improve their economic and educational potential and improve gender equality.

In 2021, with Frontline AIDS, Bridges co-founded the FGS Integration Group (FIG) as a multi sectoral partnership bringing together organizations working across sexual and reproductive health (SRHR) and NTDs. Bridges held the co-chair position until 2024 and remains an active as a core steering group member. FIG raises awareness of FGS with the aim of improving FGS diagnosis, treatment and prevention with and for women and girls through sustainable integration of FGS into SRHR and NTD programmes at scale. The group has successfully helped establish a UNAIDS/ WHO taskforce team working to integrate FGS into sexual and reproductive health and cervical cancer programmes, has led training webinars to increase awareness of the disease among SRHR health workers, and has held several high-level advocacy activities including at AIDS 2023 and 2024, the World Health Summit, and Women Deliver, which have resulted in new resources committed by the German Government, a new policy by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to ensure that FGS is included in their SRHR development assistance programs, and overall increased attention to this neglected disease. You can read more about the work of FIG here.

Since Jan 2020, in partnership with the Wellcome Trust and USAID’s Momentum Country and Global Leadership, Bridges has been supporting the World Health Organization and its core immunization partners to finalize the Immunization Agenda 2030, the world’s immunization strategy for the coming decade, and put in place a broad consultative process to develop the operational tools needed to advance its implementation at country, regional and global levels.

With funding support from Takeda Pharmaceuticals over the next three years, Bridges is leading a collaboration with national neglected tropical disease (NTD) programs, the WHO Western Pacific Regional Office, Case Western University in Ohio, and the Kirby Institute in Australia to design integrated approaches for control and elimination of NTDs in hard-to-reach populations in remote islands of the Pacific.

Bridges tailored a broad consultative process to design a five-year strategy for the world’s largest multi-stakeholder platform of malaria partners. The partners coordinate an inclusive, multi-sectoral response to control, eliminate and ultimately eradicate malaria.