Awareness towards urinary schistosomiasis and its relation with active infection among primary school pupils and students in North Kordofan state, Sudan 2022

Abstract

ObjectivesThis study intends to evaluate the prevalence of active Schistosomiasis in school children, as well as their awareness, attitude, and behavior towards the illness in El-Rahad province. MethodsThis facility-based analytical cross-sectional study among 495 primary school children aged seven to 13 in five villages; Structured and pre-tested questionnaires were used to collect the data in face-to-face interviews, in addition, urine samples were collected from each pupil and then assessed microscopically for S. Haematobium eggs Presence. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 25.0. ResultsA total of 424 primary school students participated in the study. Almost all the students (96%) had poor knowledge about urinary schistosomiasis. In general, 100% of the students had poor practices. Attitude revealed that females have lower chance of having the infection than their male counterparts. About 27% (n = 115) of them had active urinary schistosomiasis infection at the time of the study. ConclusionThe study revealed poor level of awareness and knowledge, positive attitude, and poor practices among primary school students. There was also high level of active infection among participants.