Abstract
Soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections remain the most common neglected tropical diseases among children living mainly in low-resource settings. Preventive chemotherapy (PC) has been implemented as one of the main public health interventions to control and eliminate STH infections. Although data on routine coverage of PC against STH are available at different level of the health system; these data are unreliable as they are subject to errors and manipulation and evidence is lacking on validated treatment coverage. Thus, this study aimed to determine anthelminthic coverage among school age children (SAC) to inform decision made in PC program implementation. We conducted a community-based cross-sectional coverage survey in ten districts of Ethiopia; in April 2019. Sample size was computed automatically using Coverage Survey Builder (CSB) tool in Microsoft excel. Thirty segments were randomly selected per each selected districts. Collected data were cleaned and analysed using SPSS software (IBM, version 25). In all, 8154 SAC participated in the study. The overall anthelminthic coverage was found to be 71% (95%confidence interval (CI) = 70-71.9%). The reported coverage was lower than the surveyed coverage only in Guagusa district. The PC coverage among males (71.9%) was slightly higher than females' coverage (70%); and the coverage in the age group between10 and 14 years (77%) was higher compared with the age group between 5 and 9 years (64.3%). In addition, the PC coverage in school attending children (81.1%) was much higher than coverage in non-enrolled children (28.3%). Moreover, the most frequently mentioned reasons for not swallowing drugs were drug not given (24.75%) and not attending school (19.75%). This study showed that only five out of ten districts met the target threshold (minimum 75%) for effective coverage. Hence, implementations of preventive chemotherapy should be improved in those districts with low coverage data.
Highlights
Soil-transmitted helminths (STH) are a group of intestinal parasites primarily comprise Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura and Hookworm (Ancylostoma duodenale andNecator americanus)
Data on routine coverage of Preventive chemotherapy (PC) against STH are available at different level of the health system; these data are unreliable as they are subject to errors and manipulation and evidence is lacking on validated treatment coverage
Of the total participated school age children (SAC), the proportion of males was almost equal with females except in Makoy district, where the number of females were lower than males (44.2% females versus 55.8% males)
Summary
Soil-transmitted helminths (STH) are a group of intestinal parasites primarily comprise Ascaris lumbricoides (roundworms), Trichuris trichiura (whipworms) and Hookworm (Ancylostoma duodenale andNecator americanus). They are the most common Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) that prevail in areas with lack of improved water, sanitation and hygiene [1]. About 81 million people are living in STH endemic areas, of which 25.3 million are school-aged children [7, 8]. Soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections remain the most common neglected tropical diseases among children living mainly in low-resource settings. This study aimed to determine anthelminthic coverage among school age children (SAC) to inform decision made in PC program implementation
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