At least 50 percent of counties with echinococcosis prevalence in China should reach epidemic control standards by the end of 2025, according to an action plan published by authorities recently.

The document, released by 15 government departments, including the National Administration of Disease Control and Prevention, lays out a series of goals and measures to control key parasitic diseases, including echinococcosis.

Echinococcosis is a parasitic disease caused by tapeworm infection and it primarily affects residents in regions with a developed animal husbandry sector, such as those in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, the Xizang autonomous region, the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, and the provinces of Qinghai and Gansu.

By 2025, the incidence rate of kala-azar in key counties should be reduced to below 1 per 10,000. The infection rate of liver fluke in key provincial-level regions should be cut by more than 5 percent by 2025 and by over 15 percent by 2030, it said.

To achieve these objectives, the action plan calls for strengthening control of infection sources, enhancing management of intermediate hosts, promoting standardized diagnosis and treatment of patients and continuously improving disease monitoring.

It also calls for improved environments in endemic areas to reduce the risk of transmission.