Transforming Women’s Health Through Science, Action, and CollaborationTogether with communities, researchers, health care providers, and policymakers, WINGS-4-FGS is finding ways to effectively detect and treat the neglected disease Female Genital Schistosomiasis (FGS) and giving women and girls the health and dignity they deserve.Discover Our Story
Transforming Women’s Health Through Science, Action, and CollaborationTogether with communities, researchers, health care providers, and policymakers, WINGS-4-FGS is finding ways to effectively detect and treat the neglected disease Female Genital Schistosomiasis (FGS) and giving women and girls the health and dignity they deserve.Discover Our Story
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Our Approach

At WINGS-4-FGS, we believe that tackling Female Genital Schistosomiasis (FGS) requires more than medical treatment. It requires partnership, awareness, innovation, research, and policy change all working hand in hand. Our approach brings together communities, healthcare workers, researchers, schools, and policymakers across Africa to build lasting solutions.

Raising Awareness and Building Capacity

FGS remains widely unknown both in communities and within the medical profession. Symptoms are often mistaken for sexually transmitted infections, fuelling stigma and silence.

We are working to:

  • Empower communities through awareness campaigns, multilingual materials, and innovative outreach such as radio, social media, and local storytelling.
  • Reduce stigma by breaking the silence around women’s experiences.
  • Train healthcare workers from midwives to doctors to recognise, diagnose, and manage FGS.
  • Strengthen medical education by integrating FGS into training curricula.

By targeting 2,500 men, women, boys, and girls and training over 200 healthcare workers across five countries, WINGS-4-FGS is building the foundation for better care.

Innovating Diagnosis

Detecting FGS has long been a challenge. Diagnosis usually requires expensive equipment and specialist training that are rarely available in resource-limited settings.

WINGS-4-FGS introduces a community-based two-step diagnostic approach:

  1. Self-sampling — women can use discreet swabs at home, ensuring privacy and dignity.
  2. Handheld colposcopy — bringing advanced assessment tools closer to communities.

This method provides accurate, accessible diagnosis while increasing awareness and mapping the true scale of the disease.

Advancing New Treatment Options

Currently, no treatment exists to address the chronic complications of FGS. Praziquantel (PZQ), the only drug available, kills the parasite but does not reduce inflammation or repair the damage already done.

WINGS-4-FGS is pioneering clinical trials of repurposed anti-inflammatory medicines that are already widely available in most countries and are known to be safe. These trials will test whether adding such medicines to PZQ treatment can:

  • Reduce inflammation and pain.
  • Prevent long-term complications.
  • Improve quality of life for women and girls.

If successful, this approach will provide an affordable, locally available treatment that can be rapidly integrated into national guidelines.

Integrating FGS Care into Health Systems

To create lasting change, FGS must be recognised within existing healthcare and policy frameworks.

WINGS-4-FGS will work with ministries of health, local authorities, and international partners to:

  • Identify barriers to care and opportunities for integration.
  • Develop evidence-based guidelines for diagnosis and treatment.
  • Embed FGS into sexual and reproductive health services.

Through workshops, policy engagement, and partnerships, WINGS-4-FGS is ensuring that solutions become sustainable, scalable, and embedded in national health strategies.