The influence of health education on the prevalence, intensity and morbidity of schistosoma haematobium infections in high risk groups in a schistosome endemic area in south africa

The influence of health education on the prevalence and intensity of Schistosoma haematobium infections, as well as related morbidity, was studied in school children between the age of four and 14 years. Three groups of children were selected for this investigation. All the children in the experimental group received chemotherapy before health education was implemented as well as after every survey when they got re-infected. Health education was presented by means of a puppet show. The children in one of the control groups only received treatment after the study while the children in the remaining group were treated as those in the experimental group, except that no intervention by means of education was applied. Health education, parasitological screens and snail surveys were done during the rainy, cold-dry and hot-dry seasons between 2004 and 2006. The prevalence and intensity of infection, as well as the morbidity (degree of haematuria) due to the infections, were determined after the urine samples, collected from each child, were screened. From the results it was clear that the prevalence, intensity and morbidity of infection were significantly lower in the experimental group than in both of the control groups.