Image-Based Awareness Campaign and Community Mobilization in the Control of Schistosomiasis

Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease

article

Louise Makau-Barasa¹  Liya Assefa¹  Moses O. Aderogba¹  David Bell²  Jacob Solomon³  Abubakar Abba⁴  Juliana A-Enegela⁵  James G. Damen⁶  Samuel Popoola⁷  Jan-Carel Diehl⁸  Gleb Vdovine⁷  Temitope Agbana⁷ 

[1] The Ending Neglected Diseases;Independent Consultant;Federal Ministry of Health;FCT Public Health Department;CBM International;Medical Lab Department, University of Jos;AiDx Medical Bv;Sustainable Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology

关键词: schistosomiasis;    community mobilization;    awareness;    public health;    treatment;    control;    elimination;   

DOI  :  10.3390/tropicalmed8060309

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Community awareness and participation in mass screening is critical for schistosomiasis control. This study assessed the impact of sharing anonymized image-based positive test results on the uptake of screening during community mobilization outreach. We conducted an observational study to compare the population response to standard and image-based strategies in 14 communities in Abuja, Nigeria. Six hundred and ninety-one (341 females, 350 males) individuals participated in this study. We analyzed the response ratio, relative increase, and sample collection time. The potential treatment uptake and change in social behavior were determined based on a semi-structured questionnaire. The mean response ratio of the image-based strategy was 89.7% representing a significantly higher ratio than the 27.8%, which was observed under the standard mobilization approach (p ≤ 0.001). The image-based method was associated with 100% of the participants agreeing to provide urine samples, 94% willing to be treated, 89% claiming to have been invited to participate in the study by a friend, and 91% desiring to change a predisposing behavioral habit. These findings indicate that image-based community awareness campaigns may increase the population’s perception about schistosomiasis transmission and treatment. This raises new possibilities for local resource mobilization to expand services in reaching the last mile in schistosomiasis control.

【 授权许可】

CC BY