Ying Guo¹, Yi Wang¹, and Qing-Tang Li². (1) Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Office of Disease Control & Public Awareness, Yuzhou, 461670, China, 86-0374-8184252, guohealth@yahoo.com, (2) Public Health Bureau, City of Yuzhou, Yuzhou, 461670, China

Background: To reduce helminth infection in rural China where it remains an important public health problem (Xu, et al., 2000), a coordinated control strategy that combines annual mass chemotherapy and health education has been adopted in recent years. This paper aimed to assess the effectiveness of this coordinated strategy in rural communities with poor sanitation conditions.

Methods: As a pilot experiment of applying the coordinated strategy by the provincial public health authorities, a helminth reduction campaign was conducted in Yuzhou County of Henan Province between 1998 and 2001. This study evaluated the effectiveness of the campaign in four randomly selected townships in the county. The evaluation methodology included excrement test, anal swab examination, and a survey on health knowledge among 1947 randomly selected residents who participated in the campaign.

Results: The results showed that the prevalence of helminth infection in all townships was significantly reduced. More specifically, the prevalence of infection with roundworms, hookworms, and whipworms reduced from 60.5%, 10.9%, and 10.3% in 1998 to 12.6%, 1.8%, and 0.9% in 2001; by contrast, the prevalence of infection with pinworms increased by 5.0%. Moreover, the prevalence of infection varied across townships and co-varied with the level of residents’ health knowledge, suggesting a positive effect of health education on the coordinated control strategy.

Conclusions: The study revealed that, while being generally effective, the coordinated helminth control strategy is less effective in controlling pinworms. It highlighted the importance of sanitation improvement, in conjunction with the coordinated strategy, in reducing helminth infection.

Learning Objectives: At conclusion of the session, participants will be able to

• Assess the impacts of the coordinated control strategy on helminth prevalence in rural China;
• Identify other contextual factors that may affect the effectiveness of the coordinated strategy;
• Highlight the importance of sanitation improvement, in conjunction with the coordinated control strategy, in reducing helminth.

Keywords: Communicable Disease, Rural Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.