Third Schistosomiasis treatment on Pemba Island, Zanizbar
Previously in 2004 and 2005, the programme provided drugs to all eligible members of the population through community-based distribution, following an identical format to the Programme for the Elimination of Lymphatic Filariasis which has been operating on the island since 2001. In this way, all communities have received treatment for schistosomiasis and lymphatic filariasis once a year and treatment for soil-transmitted helminth infections twice yearly.
Prior to the 2006 drug delivery, the programme staff conducted training
for all school teachers, even though some of whom had acted as community
drug distributors in the previous years, on administration of the tablets.
During the campaign, each school treated all enroled children in every class
throughout the week and invited non-enroled children to also attend. In
addition, all health facilities were supplied with drugs for diagnosis-based
cases and for individuals seeking treatment in the communities. The campaign
proved to be very successful and will be repeated again in 2007. |
The Kichocho
Control Programme, coordinated on Pemba Island, Zanzibar at the Public
Health Laboratory- Ivo de Carneri, recently delivered the third annual
treatment for schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminths. Praziquantel
and albendazole were distributed to all school-aged children across the
island during 19th-26th June 2006 in a school-based approach reaching
approximately 90,000 individuals.
Results from the monitoring protocol indicated the impact of the Kichocho
Control Programme after 2 annual treatments has been dramatic with excellent
reductions in the intensity and prevalence of schistosomiasis infection.
According to World Health Organization guidelines on treating helminth
infections, Pemba communities therefore no longer need to receive regular
annual chemotherapy. Thus the drug distribution strategy was changed in 2006
to “maintenance control” which means targeting only those individuals with
the highest rates of infection, namely school-aged children.