The World Health Organisation (WHO) is aiming for elimination of schistosomiasis by 2020 through mass drug administration (MDA). However, the drug used for this, praziquantel, has been reported to cause dramatic side effects, even death, among people suffering from neurocysticercosis (NCC). Both diseases are presumed to be widely distributed on the continent, but the co-endemicity is unclear.
We carried out a literature study of T. solium taeniosis/ cysticercosis in humans and porcine cysticercosis in pigs. Only epidemiological/clinical studies were included, qualitative questionnaire based surveys were discarded.

The presence of T. solium was georeferenced with an online gazetteer using information on place names in the published literature.
We found 117 reports of T. solium cysticercosis/taeniosis in Africa from 1970 to 2012. A total of 538 districts (admin level 4 or equivalent) in 25 countries were identified.
The co-endemicity dataset was then combined with modelled data on population density for 2015 derived from the WorldPop database (http://www.worldpop.org). We used the open source GIS software QGIS and GRASS to overlay the two datasets and identified the number of people living in co-endemic districts.

Over 135 million people live in co-endemic areas. Of these, almost 44 million live in high prevalence areas for schistosomiasis where WHO recommend MDA for the entire population.
In co-endemic areas resources need to be allocated for evaluating the extent of adverse effects caused by mass drug administration in areas where people suffer from neurocysticercosis.
One Health control strategies should be implemented, monitored and evaluated to enhance disease control with a long-term goal of elimination.