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Rethinking the Top-Down Approach to Schistosomiasis Control and Elimination in Sub-Saharan Africa

The control and elimination of schistosomiasis have over the last two decades involved several strategies, with the current strategy by the World Health Organization (WHO) focusing mainly on treatment with praziquantel during mass drug administration (MDA). However, the disease context is complex wi...

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Autores principales: Onasanya, Adeola, Bengtson, Michel, Oladepo, Oladimeji, Van Engelen, Jo, Diehl, Jan Carel
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7930368/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33681133
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.622809
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author Onasanya, Adeola
Bengtson, Michel
Oladepo, Oladimeji
Van Engelen, Jo
Diehl, Jan Carel
author_facet Onasanya, Adeola
Bengtson, Michel
Oladepo, Oladimeji
Van Engelen, Jo
Diehl, Jan Carel
author_sort Onasanya, Adeola
collection PubMed
description The control and elimination of schistosomiasis have over the last two decades involved several strategies, with the current strategy by the World Health Organization (WHO) focusing mainly on treatment with praziquantel during mass drug administration (MDA). However, the disease context is complex with an interplay of social, economic, political, and cultural factors that may affect achieving the goals of the Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) 2021-2030 Roadmap. There is a need to revisit the current top-down and reactive approach to schistosomiasis control among sub-Saharan African countries and advocate for a dynamic and diversified approach. This paper highlights the challenges of praziquantel-focused policy for schistosomiasis control and new ways to move from schistosomiasis control to elimination in sub-Saharan Africa. We will also discuss an alternative and diversified approach that consists of a Systems Thinking Framework that embraces intersectoral collaboration fully and includes co-creating locally relevant strategies with affected communities. We propose that achieving the goals for control and elimination of schistosomiasis requires a bottom-up and pro-active approach involving multiple stakeholders. Such a pro-active integrated approach will pave the way for achieving the goals of the NTD 2021-2030 roadmap for schistosomiasis, and ultimately improve the wellbeing of those living in endemic areas.
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spelling pubmed-79303682021-03-05 Rethinking the Top-Down Approach to Schistosomiasis Control and Elimination in Sub-Saharan Africa Onasanya, Adeola Bengtson, Michel Oladepo, Oladimeji Van Engelen, Jo Diehl, Jan Carel Front Public Health Public Health The control and elimination of schistosomiasis have over the last two decades involved several strategies, with the current strategy by the World Health Organization (WHO) focusing mainly on treatment with praziquantel during mass drug administration (MDA). However, the disease context is complex with an interplay of social, economic, political, and cultural factors that may affect achieving the goals of the Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) 2021-2030 Roadmap. There is a need to revisit the current top-down and reactive approach to schistosomiasis control among sub-Saharan African countries and advocate for a dynamic and diversified approach. This paper highlights the challenges of praziquantel-focused policy for schistosomiasis control and new ways to move from schistosomiasis control to elimination in sub-Saharan Africa. We will also discuss an alternative and diversified approach that consists of a Systems Thinking Framework that embraces intersectoral collaboration fully and includes co-creating locally relevant strategies with affected communities. We propose that achieving the goals for control and elimination of schistosomiasis requires a bottom-up and pro-active approach involving multiple stakeholders. Such a pro-active integrated approach will pave the way for achieving the goals of the NTD 2021-2030 roadmap for schistosomiasis, and ultimately improve the wellbeing of those living in endemic areas. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-02-18 /pmc/articles/PMC7930368/ /pubmed/33681133 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.622809 Text en Copyright © 2021 Onasanya, Bengtson, Oladepo, Van Engelen and Diehl. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Public Health
Onasanya, Adeola
Bengtson, Michel
Oladepo, Oladimeji
Van Engelen, Jo
Diehl, Jan Carel
Rethinking the Top-Down Approach to Schistosomiasis Control and Elimination in Sub-Saharan Africa
title Rethinking the Top-Down Approach to Schistosomiasis Control and Elimination in Sub-Saharan Africa
title_full Rethinking the Top-Down Approach to Schistosomiasis Control and Elimination in Sub-Saharan Africa
title_fullStr Rethinking the Top-Down Approach to Schistosomiasis Control and Elimination in Sub-Saharan Africa
title_full_unstemmed Rethinking the Top-Down Approach to Schistosomiasis Control and Elimination in Sub-Saharan Africa
title_short Rethinking the Top-Down Approach to Schistosomiasis Control and Elimination in Sub-Saharan Africa
title_sort rethinking the top-down approach to schistosomiasis control and elimination in sub-saharan africa
topic Public Health
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7930368/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33681133
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.622809
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