| 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 –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 to 1914, and closes in 1915. [6] It is replaced by the International Health Division (IHD), another Rockefeller Foundation initiative, which tackled public health concerns on a global level. [7] | 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. [8] | 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". [6] | 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. [6] | 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. [6] | 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 . [6] | 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". [6] | Soil-transmitted helminthiasis | South Korea |
| 2001 | | The World Health Assembly declares the goal of 75% of schoolchildren in endemic areas receiving deworming treatment. [5] : 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] | | |