Burkina Faso's 2008 Integrated NTD Mass Treatment Campaign

Burkina Faso NTD Control Programme launches their second integrated mass treatment campaign in the district of Diabaga.

Minister of Health presenting a lymphoedema cleansing kit to a patient at the national NTD launch ceremony

On the 8th of January 2008, the Burkina Faso NTD Control Programme launched their second integrated mass treatment campaign in the district of Diabaga. The launch ceremony was officially opened by the Minister of Health, his Honourable Alain Bedoumé Yoda. Also in attendance was the Ministry of Health’s General Secretary, the WHO representative, the President and Treasurer of RISEAL-Europe, the Hellen Keller International country representative, representatives from international and national NGOs, many senior Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education officials, and local traditional and religious leaders.

Local villagers suffering from lymphoedema (caused by lymphatic filariasis) and the donated drugs for the NTD integrated treatment campaign.

By the end of March 2008 the integrated mass drug administration (MDA) had targeted all 55 districts for lymphatic filariasis with funding from the Government of Burkina Faso and international donors, such as GAELF, WHO, and the Liverpool Support Centre. The 42 districts targeted for schistosomiasis and the 8 districts that will be targeted for trachoma before the end of June received funds from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), and other partners. All the drugs for the mass treatment campaign, apart from the praziquantel that was provided by USAID and BMGF (through the SCI), were donated by large pharmaceutical donation programmes (Merck-Ivermectin for lymphatic filaraisis and onchocerciasis; GSK-Albendazole for lymphatic filariasis; Pfiser-Zithromax for trachoma).

The Burkina Faso NTD Control Programme plans to complete the 2008 mass treatment campaign by the end of June and then conduct both regional and national evaluation workshops. Feedback from the evaluation workshops will assist the NTD Control Programme to improve their efforts and increase coverage rates in future treatment campaigns. ImagePrior to the launch of the 2008 integrated NTD mass treatment campaign, the Burkina Faso NTD Control Programme conducted detailed prevalence surveys on adult target groups in all 42 schistosomiasis targeted districts to ensure the treatment campaign had current prevalence data on adults. In addition, the Burkina Faso NTD Control Programme revised and updated an educational comic book on schistosomiasis with the assistance of SCI and CHEPE. The comic book ‘Moussa et la Bilharziose’ (pictured right) was distributed to all schools in hyper-endemic zones. The books have been used in other West African countries and feedback from education officials has been positive. Overall, the Burkina Faso NTD Control Programme and the Ministry of Health have been able to fully adopt WHO NTD treatment policy and efforts to ensure the programme is both successful and sustainable are fully embraced by both government officials and partners.