Reassessment of the prevalence of soil-transmitted helminth infections in Sri Lanka to enable a more focused control programme: a cross-sectional national school survey with spatial modelling.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In Sri Lanka, deworming programmes for soil-transmitted helminth infections became an integral part of school health in the 1960s, whereas routine antenatal deworming with mebendazole started in the 1980s. A 2003 national soil-transmitted helminth survey done among schoolchildren found an overall prevalence of 6·9%. In our study, we aimed to reassess the national prevalence of soil-transmitted helminth infections to enable implementation of a more focused control programme that targets smaller administrative areas at risk of continued transmission.

Methods

We did a cross-sectional, school-based, national survey using multistage stratified cluster sampling, covering all nine provinces as well as populations at high risk of soil-transmitted helminth infections livin

SUBMITTER: Ediriweera DS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6688098 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature