Third Schistosomiasis treatment on Pemba Island, Zanizbar

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.