NALA stands for NTD Advocacy, Learning, Action and is an Israeli non-governmental organization that has been operating in Ethiopia since 2008. It takes a unique and, most importantly, community-based approach, mainly focusing on health education, WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) and treatments to achieve sustainable behavior change and ultimately control and eliminate neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). 

In 2017, the Merck/NALA Foundation was formed in collaboration with the Ministry of Health of Ethiopia to control and eliminate schistosomiasis and other NTDs in the Bench Sheko & West Omo zones (previously Bench Maji zone) in South West Ethiopia. This region is known for being one of the toughest NTD hotspots. Special attention and implementation support has been given to areas in which the disease burden remains high despite regular mass drug administrations (MDA). Tailored, community-owned health education and WASH programs have been designed and implemented to reduce prevalence levels and move from control to elimination to create a proven success model. 

Since the beginning of the collaboration around 230,000 community members and more than 370,000 school-age children in districts with the highest prevalence of schistosomiasis were reached.

In 2023, the main emphasis of the project was on the integration of the program’s disease-prevention initiatives into the national government processes and activities, sustaining and expanding the project’s outcomes. Operational research comparing two districts was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of behavioral change combined with mass drug administration versus mass drug administration alone. The results showed a greater reduction in the prevalence of schistosomiasis in the intervention district, strongly suggesting a positive correlation between integrated interventions and changed behavior in these communities.