S. Siziya et M. Mushanga, IMPORTANCE OF SCHISTOSOMIASIS IN THE ISOKA DISTRICT OF ZAMBIA - A PREREQUISITE FOR ITS CONTROL USING COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION, Social science & medicine, 42(3), 1996, pp. 431-435
Citations number
10
Categorie Soggetti
Social Sciences, Biomedical","Public, Environmental & Occupation Heath
The opinion has long been held that only by treating cases individuall
y could diseases be controlled or eradicated. This view has been adopt
ed from time immemorial and has failed miserably in, for instance, the
control of schistosomiasis. This paper presents views of the head tea
chers on the prominence of schistosomiasis in the Isoka district, Zamb
ia, as a step towards their involvement in a community mediated progra
mme for the control of schistosomiasis. Information was sought on the
importance of schistosomiasis in the district by means of two question
naires, one distributed to head teachers, and the other to school chil
dren. Lack of clean water was considered to be the leading factor by 7
1 (82.6%) teachers. Generally, schistosomiasis was not considered to b
e a prominent disease in the district. Nevertheless, teachers from hig
hly infected areas ranked schistosomiasis as a health problem higher t
han those teachers from schools with lower prevalences (P=0.002). The
implications of these results to implementing a district wide schistos
omiasis control programme covering both infected and uninfected areas
are discussed.