Community participation in schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminths control and related research in kwale county, coastal kenya.

Abstract

Soil-transmitted helminths (STH) and schistosomiasis are neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) mostly prevalent in communities living in areas of poverty in developing tropical countries. Currently, control programmes are based on regular co-administration of praziquantel and albendazole or mebendazole focusing on school-age children because they bear the greatest burden of infection. However, adult population was found to have significant levels of both schistosomiasis and STH in areas of high endemicity such as coastal and western Kenya. An operational research study undertaken during a pilot control programme against STH and schistosomiasis in both school-aged children and adult populations was implemented in 2010 in 5 villages in Kwale County, coastal Kenya. Biological samples (urine, stool and blood) were regularly collected from both the adults and children for purposes of monitoring and evaluation of the programme. The current study, therefore, was conducted to evaluate factors associated with community participation in the STH and schistosomiasis pilot control programme in Kwale and related operational research. The study comprised of 220 households heads. Quantitative data were analysed using SPSS (version16) program. Qualitative data were analysed thematically. Response rate was 98.6%. About 157 (72.4%) were females while 60 (27.6%) were males, mean age was 38.7 years (SD 14.62). Among the social-economic factors, religion and levels of income weresignificantly (P =0.04 and P=0.026 respectively) associated with participation in the research and control programme, history of ever suffering from schistosomiasis and intestinal worms was found to be significantly (P=0.008) associated with participation in the research. The study established that 82% (178) of the respondents received treatment for urogenital schistosomiasis and hookworms during the pilot control programme and 67% (146) of the respondents had participated in the research. This information will be useful in promoting health, enhancing learning and behaviour changes which will lead to increased community participation in similar disease control programmes.