Community Directed Treatment of Soil-Transmitted Helminths Among Young Children in Zambia

May 7, 2008 updated by: DBL -Institute for Health Research and Development

Community-Directed Treatment in the Control of Soil-Transmitted Helminths Among Children Aged 12-59 Months in Mazabuka District of Zambia

The WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) developed a Community-Directed Treatment (COMDT) approach, which has been adopted in the control of onchocerciasis and lymphatic filariasis. WHO has recommended the use of COMDT approach in the control of schistosomiasis and STH infections. The COMDT approach has been compared with the school based programmes in certain African countries,but not with the health-facility based approach.

The project will be implemented in Mazabuka district of Zambia where COMDT approach will be implemented in the catchment area of Rural Health Centres (RHC) as a supplement to the health-facility-based approach. After each round of treatmenttreatment coverage and factors responsible for the treatment coverage will be measured in both areas. The health impact of the health facility based approach with and without the COMDT approach will be compared. The effect of the COMDT as a control approach of STH infections will be monitored on infections in the community of children aged 12 to 59 months.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections are of public health importance and widespread in large part of the world, particularly in the poorest sections of the populations residing in the least developed countries. The infections can be controlled by several measures, but currently delivering anthelminthic drugs through schools and health centres is believed to be the most effective as it takes advantage of existing infrastructure. In Zambia, anthelminthic drugs are delivered to children aged 12 to 59 months twice a year through health facilities during the child health promotion week. However, it has been observed that treatment coverage is low in certain areas. Therefore, there is a need to identify the factors associated with the treatment coverage patterns, and to provide evidence of an effective intervention approach that could increase the proportion of children receiving treatment.

The WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) developed a Community-Directed Treatment (COMDT) approach, which has been adopted in the control of onchocerciasis and lymphatic filariasis. WHO has recommended the use of COMDT approach in the control of schistosomiasis and STH infections. The COMDT approach has been compared with the school based programmes in certain African countries, but has never been used in Zambia and never been compared with the health-facility based approach in the control of these infections in children below school age. It is against this background that this project is being proposed.

The project will be implemented in Mazabuka district of Zambia. Two Rural Health Centres (RHCs) will be selected in the district and mapped for treatment coverage of the health-facility based approach. Focus group discussions (FGDs) and in-depth interviews will be conducted with community members to explore the reasons for existing treatment coverage of the health facility approach. The COMDT approach will then be implemented in the catchment area of one of the RHCs as a supplement to the health-facility-based approach. After each round of treatment, coverage and factors influencing coverage will be measured in both areas. The health impact of the health facility based approach with and without the COMDT approach will be compared. Parameters for health impact will be child growth, prevalence and intensity of STH infections and number of illness episodes requiring treatment. The effect of the COMDT as a control approach of STH infections will be monitored on infections in the community of children aged 12 to 59 months, and the appropriateness of the approach will be evaluated using the African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control grading system. The whole project is expected to take 3 years.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Anticipated)

100

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Zambia
      • Mazabuka, Zambia
        • Mazabuka District

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

4 months to 3 years (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Age 12-59 months

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Severely ill children

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Time Perspectives: Prospective

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

DBL -Institute for Health Research and Development

Collaborators

University of Zambia
Department of Community Medicine & Department of Biological Sciences

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Hikabasa Halwindi, M.phil, Department of Community Medicine, University of Zambia

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

August 1, 2006

Primary Completion (Actual)

August 1, 2007

Study Completion (Actual)

September 1, 2007

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 6, 2006

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 6, 2006

First Posted (Estimate)

July 7, 2006

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

May 8, 2008

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 7, 2008

Last Verified

February 1, 2008

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2006-7041-83/hah

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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