Extending anthelminthic coverage to non-enrolled school-age children usinga simple and low-cost method

School health programmes are the basis of the strategy defined by WHO to re duce morbidity due to soil-transmitted nematodes and schistosomes in school age populations in developing countries. However, low rates of school enro lment can be a major factor limiting their success. In the present study enrolled children were informed by teachers on the dat e of the next deworming compaign acid were invited to pass along this infor mation to parents, siblings and friends of school-age. On the day of the deworming campaign, teachers were instructed to administe r anthelminthics to enrolled and not enrolled school-age children present a t school. Tn the month following the treatment day, information about cover age was collected by questionnaire in 257 households in two regions of Ungu ia Island, Zanzibar. Over 89% of school age children resulted treated (98.9 % of those enrolled plus 60% of those not enrolled). The additional cost of treating non-enrolled is limited to the cost of providing additional doses of anthelminthic drug in each school. Non-enrolled school age children can easily, successfully and inexpensively included in school based deworming campaign. Managers of control programme s are invited to test this method adapting it in their particular and cultu ral environment.