Pilot Phase Treatment in Zambia September-December 2005
The districts selected for the Pilot Phase were known high risk areas for bilharzias infection in the Eastern and Southern provinces of the country. Siavonga, Gwembe and Sinazongwe districts in the Southern Province all border Lake Kariba and communities living on the lakeshore are regularly exposed to both S. mansoni and S. haematobium infection. In Eastern Province, the districts of Chadiza, Chipata, Katete and Petauke suffer a high prevalence with S. haematobium. Rapid diagnostic questionnaires were carried out in these district’s schools to identify which had a prevalence of infection over 50% and therefore required mass treatment to be implemented in surrounding communities. The teachers and community health workers in the Pilot Phase areas have received training which included information on bilharzia and STH life-cycles, the symptoms and consequences of infection with these infections. In addition, the training covered how to access the drugs, how to calculate and deliver the correct dosage, to ensure the drugs were not taken on an empty stomach, and what information to pass on to the recipients. Training always concluded with a practice drug delivery session and the distribution of IEC materials and equipment. These training sessions were conducted by team members from both the District Health Management Team (DHMT) and the District Education Board Secretary (DEBS). Many of these teachers and community health workers have graduated to become trainers and pass on their knowledge to their fellow teachers and community members in order to spread the knowledge and to enlist help in the Drug Administration Days. Separate treatment days, which are supervised by trained health workers,
have been held in the schools and communities. Each recipient is registered
by name and age and then measured using a ‘dose pole’ which indicates from
their height the correct dosage of praziquantel that the individual should
receive (to the nearest half tablet). Additionally each individual receives
one 400 mg tablet of albendazole for the treatment of soil transmitted
helminths. The praziquantel for treatment has been provided by SCI and the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and is manufactured by Shin Poong
Pharmaceutical Company Ltd of South Korea. The albendazole used for this
Pilot Phase of treatment has been supplied by MedPharm, a US pharmaceutical
company using funds donated by Canadian charities. |
The
Zambia national bilharzia control programme (ZBCP) was officially launched
by the Ministry of Education in June 2005. In September 2005 the ZBCP, in
partnership with the Ministry of Education’s School Health and Nutrition
(SHIN) began treatment in both government and community schools in two
provinces of the country. In December 2005 treatment targeting the wider
community commenced to reach heavily infected adults in the endemic areas.
In this Pilot Phase of the programme it is planned that an estimated 500,000
individuals will be treated for bilharzia and soil-transmitted helminths
through the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education collaboration.