Impact of Alternative Treatment Strategies and Delivery Systems for Soil-transmitted Helminths in Kenya
Summary
The mainstay of control of soil-transmitted helminths (STH) is school-based deworming but recent modelling has highlights that in all but low very transmission settings, the treatment of school-aged children is unlikely to interrupt transmission, and that new treatment strategies are required. This study seeks to answer the question: is it possible to interrupt the transmission of STH and if so, what is the most cost-effective treatment strategy and delivery system to achieve this goal? In this study, two paired community cluster randomised trials in different settings in Kenya will evaluate the impact and cost-effectiveness of annual school-based deworming, annual community-based deworming, and biannual community-based deworming. The interventions are (i) annual mass anthelmintic treatment delivered either to pre-school and school-aged children, as part of a national school-based deworming programme, or to the entire community delivered by community health workers. The primary outcome measure is the prevalence of hookworm infection (the most common STH species), assessed by periodic cross-sectional, age-stratified parasitological surveys. Secondary outcomes include intensity of hookworm, prevalence and intensity of Ascaris lumbricoides, treatment coverage, and among a randomly selected sub-sample of participants who will be followed longitudinally, worm burden and proportion of eggs unfertilised. A nested process evaluation, using semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions and a stakeholder analysis will investigate the community acceptability, feasibility given the local and regional health system structures and processes, and scale-up of the interventions.
Timeline
- Start
- 2015-03
- Primary completion
- 2017-06
- Completion
- 2017-07
Outcome
Met primary endpoint
paper Relative to annual school-based treatment, the risk ratio for annual community-wide treatment was 0·59 (95% CI 0·42-0·83; p<0·001) PMID 31006575 ↗
paper Community-wide treatment was more effective in reducing hookworm prevalence and intensity than school-based treatment PMID 31006575 ↗
Publications
- Halliday KE, Oswald WE, Mcharo C, Beaumont E, Gichuki PM, Kepha S, Witek-McManus SS, Matendechero SH, El-Busaidy H, Muendo R, Chiguzo AN, Cano J, Karanja MW, Musyoka LW, Safari TK, Mutisya LN, Muye IJ, Sidigu MA, Anderson RM, Allen E, Brooker SJ, Mwandawiro CS, Njenga SM, Pullan RL. Community-level epidemiology of soil-transmitted helminths in the context of school-based deworming: Baseline results of a cluster randomised trial on the coast of Kenya. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2019 Aug 9;13(8):e0007427. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0007427. eCollection 2019 Aug.
- Pullan RL, Halliday KE, Oswald WE, Mcharo C, Beaumont E, Kepha S, Witek-McManus S, Gichuki PM, Allen E, Drake T, Pitt C, Matendechero SH, Gwayi-Chore MC, Anderson RM, Njenga SM, Brooker SJ, Mwandawiro CS. Effects, equity, and cost of school-based and community-wide treatment strategies for soil-transmitted helminths in Kenya: a cluster-randomised controlled trial. Lancet. 2019 May 18;393(10185):2039-2050. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)32591-1. Epub 2019 Apr 18.
- Brooker SJ, Mwandawiro CS, Halliday KE, Njenga SM, Mcharo C, Gichuki PM, Wasunna B, Kihara JH, Njomo D, Alusala D, Chiguzo A, Turner HC, Teti C, Gwayi-Chore C, Nikolay B, Truscott JE, Hollingsworth TD, Balabanova D, Griffiths UK, Freeman MC, Allen E, Pullan RL, Anderson RM. Interrupting transmission of soil-transmitted helminths: a study protocol for cluster randomised trials evaluating alternative treatment strategies and delivery systems in Kenya. BMJ Open. 2015 Oct 19;5(10):e008950. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2015-008950.
Drugs
| Evaluation | Drug | Modality | Dose | Route |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subject | Albendazole | Small molecule | 400 mg | — |