| Year | Event type | Event | Disease name | Geographic location | | 16th century BC | Schistosome parasites thought to first evolve in the Great Lakes of East Africa around this period.[1] | Schistosomiasis | Africa |
| 16th century BC | Guinea Worm is described in several ancient Egyptian texts, and is thought to be common in the area[2] | Dracunculiasis | Egypt |
| 1st Century{{snd}}7th Century | Discovery | Roman and Byzantine physicians are familiar with human roundworms and tapeworms and the infections that they cause.[3] | Roundworm, tapeworm | Roman Empire |
| 1683-1684 | Discovery | Birth of modern helminthology. Detailed anatomy of the roundworm (Ascaris lumbricoides) is described, first by English physician Edward Tyson (1683), and shortly afterward by the Italian Francesco Redi (1684).[3] | Roundworm | England, Italy |
| 1799–1801 | Crisis | Napoleon's soldiers almost certainly suffer from haematuria caused by schistosomiasis infection.[1] | Schistosomiasis |
| 1851 | Discovery | Theodor Bilharz discovers the parasite responsible for schistosomiasis.[1] | Schistosomiasis |
| 1882 | Publication | First mention of schistosomiasis in The Lancet.[1] | Schistosomiasis |
| 1883 | Interest in schistosomiasis heightens in England (and Europe more generally) due to more frequent encounter with the disease following English occupation of Egypt.[1] | Schistosomiasis | England, Egypt |
| 1893–1918 | Program launch | Four commissions designed to understand schistosomiasis are sent to North Africa.[1] | Schistosomiasis | Africa |
| 1898 | Discovery | Scientist Arthur Looss discovers that hookworms enter the body by boring through the skin when he accidentally infects himself.[3] | Hookworm |
| 1909 | Organization | The Rockefeller Sanitary Commission for the Eradication of Hookworm Disease (RSC) is founded. One of RSC's main goals is to eradicate hookworm disease in Southern United States.[4][5] The RSC is active from 1910–1914, and closes in 1915.[15] It is replaced by the International Health Division (IHD), another Rockefeller Foundation initiative, which tackled public health concerns on a global level.[6] | Hookworm | United States |
| 1914–1934 | Overdose of oil of chenopodium, administered as part of the Rockefeller hookworm eradication program, causes over 200 documented deaths. More than 80% of deaths occur in children under 12.[7] | Hookworm |
| 1915 | Discovery | Robert Thomson Leiper works out the life-cycle of schistosomiasis.[1] | Schistosomiasis |
| 1926–1931 | Successful eradication | Guinea Worm is eradicated in Uzbekistan through a series of health education and sanitation measures.[2] | Dracunculiasis | Uzbekistan |
| 1927–1951 | Attempts are made to kill the intermediate hosts for schistosomiasis (i.e. snails) using copper sulfate instead of sanitation and health education. The reasoning here is to prevent the schistosomiasis life-cycle from being completed. However it is unclear if these measures reduced the prevalence of schistosomiasis.[1] | Schistosomiasis |
| 1938 | Schistosomiasis Commission proposed by Hilmy Bey; the League of Nations Health Committee suggests more research on the disease, but nothing is done due to the imminence of World War II (among other reasons).[1] | Schistosomiasis |
| 1939–1945 | Crisis | Allied soldiers affected by schistosomiasis in China, the Philippines, and the Pacific Islands. This brings the disease to international attention.[1] | Schistosomiasis |
| 1942 | Program launch | Schistosomiasis control program begins in Venezuela.[1] | Schistosomiasis | Venezuela |
| 1947 | Publication | First assessment of the distribution of schistosomiasis in the world by Norman Stoll.[1] | Schistosomiasis |
| 1948 | Program launch | The first World Health Assembly decides to establish an "Expert Committee" to deal with schistosomiasis.[1] | Schistosomiasis |
| 1949 | Program launch | Volunteer organizations for deworming form in Tokyo and Osaka, which implement "biannual school-based mass screening and treatment".[15] | Soil-transmitted helminthiasis | Japan |
| 1955 | Program launch | Japan Association of Parasite Control (JAPC) forms. JAPC is a consolidation of several previous deworming groups that existed.[15] | Soil-transmitted helminthiasis | Japan |
| 1965–1995 | Program launch | Korea Association for Parasite Eradication models their deworming program (a "biannual school-based mass screening and treatment program") off Japanese programs.[15] | Soil-transmitted helminthiasis, hookworm, etc. | South Korea |
| 1971 | Successful eradication | Iran eliminates dracunculiasis.[2] | Dracunculiasis | Iran |
| mid-1980s | Under Japan Association of Parasite Control, deworming efforts lead to "very minimal levels" of Ascaris.[8] | Soil-transmitted helminthiasis | Japan |
| 1986–present | Organization | The Carter Foundation begins a campaign to eradicate Guinea worm. The incidence of guinea worm infection declines sharply, from an estimated 3.5 million cases in 1986 to 22 reported cases in 2015.[9] | Dracunculiasis |
| 1997 | The World Health Organization declares South Korea "essentially worm-free".[8] | Soil-transmitted helminthiasis | South Korea |
| 2001 | [5]{{rp>2}} | Schistosomiasis, Soil-transmitted helminthiasis[10] |
| 2002 | Organization | The Schistosomiasis Control Initiative (SCI) established after being funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.[11] Since 2013 SCI has been a GiveWell top charity. | Schistosomiasis |
| 2007 | Organization | Deworm the World Initiative is founded.[12] Since 2014 Deworm the World Initiative has been a GiveWell top charity. | Soil-transmitted helminthiasis |
| 2012 | Program launch | Various organizations announce a coordinated effort to eliminate or control 10 neglected tropical diseases, including both schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis.[13] | Schistosomiasis, soil-transmitted helminthiasis |
| 2015 | The "deworming debate" takes place starting in July on whether deworming is effective.[14] |
1. ^1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 {{cite journal |url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1081781/pdf/medhist00110-0029.pdf |title=The History of Schistosomiasis Research and Policy for Its Control |accessdate=April 16, 2016 |date=July 1976 |last=Sandbach |first=F. R. |pmc=1081781 |pmid=792584 |volume=20 |issue=3 |journal=Med Hist |pages=259–75 |doi=10.1017/s0025727300022663}}
2. ^1 2 {{Cite web|url=http://www.who.int/dracunculiasis/background/en|title=Dracunculiasis: Historical background|last=|first=|date=|website=|publisher=World Health Organization|access-date=June 26, 2016}}
3. ^1 2 {{Cite journal|last=Cox|first=F. E. G.|date=2002-10-01|title=History of Human Parasitology|journal=Clinical Microbiology Reviews|volume=15|issue=4|pages=595–612|doi=10.1128/CMR.15.4.595-612.2002|issn=0893-8512|pmc=126866|pmid=12364371}}
4. ^{{cite web |url=http://www.rockefeller100.org/exhibits/show/health/rockefeller-sanitary-commissio |title=Rockefeller Sanitary Commission (RSC) |publisher=The Rockefeller Foundation |accessdate=April 22, 2016}}
5. ^1 {{cite web |url=http://www.londonntd.org/sites/www.londonntd.org/files/content/Worms,%20Wisdom%20and%20Wealth.pdf |title=Worms, wisdom, and wealth: why deworming can make economic sense |accessdate=April 16, 2016 |date=2013 |authors=Donald A.P. Bundy, Judd L. Walson, and Kristie L. Watkins}}
6. ^{{Cite web|url=http://rockefeller100.org/exhibits/show/health/international-health-division|title=100 Years: The Rockefeller Foundation {{!}} International Health Division · Health|last=Center|first=Rockefeller Archive|website=rockefeller100.org|access-date=2016-06-26}}
7. ^{{Cite journal|last=PALMER|first=STEVEN|date=2010-04-01|title=Toward Responsibility in International Health: Death following Treatment in Rockefeller Hookworm Campaigns, 1914–1934|journal=Medical History|volume=54|issue=2|pages=149–170|issn=0025-7273|pmc=2844286|pmid=20357984|doi=10.1017/s0025727300000223}}
8. ^1 2 3 4 5 {{cite web|title=STH Elimination Strategy Support - Objective 1: Past STH Elimination Programs |url=http://uwstartcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/START_57_STHE_Objective_1_Final_Report_2015-02.pdf |date=February 17, 2015 |publisher=University of Washington Global Health START Program}}
9. ^{{Cite web|url=https://www.cartercenter.org/health/guinea_worm/index.html|title=Guinea Worm Eradication Program|website=www.cartercenter.org|access-date=2016-06-26}}
10. ^{{cite web |url=http://www.who.int/neglected_diseases/mediacentre/WHA_54.19_Eng.pdf |title=WHA54.19 Schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminth infections |publisher=World Health Organization}}
11. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.imperial.ac.uk/schistosomiasis-control-initiative/about/ |title=About |accessdate=April 23, 2016 |publisher=Schistosomiasis Control Initiative}}
12. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.givewell.org/international/top-charities/deworm-world-initiative |title=Deworm the World Initiative, led by Evidence Action |publisher=GiveWell |date=April 2016}}
13. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.unitingtocombatntds.org/downloads/press/ntd_event_table_of_commitments.pdf |title=Table of Commitments |accessdate=April 23, 2016 |date=2012 |publisher=Uniting to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases |deadurl=unfit |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130312031006/http://www.unitingtocombatntds.org/downloads/press/ntd_event_table_of_commitments.pdf |archivedate=March 12, 2013 }}
14. ^{{cite web |url=http://www.cochrane.org/news/deworming-debate |title=Timeline: the deworming debate |publisher=The Cochrane Collaboration |accessdate=April 23, 2016}}