Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs)

Optimizing community health workers and nonbiomedical approaches to assess the burden of soil-transmitted helminthiasis in a school-aged population in rural Rwanda

This study explored whether community health workers in rural Rwanda could use a simple checklist to spot children who might have worm infections. CHWs screened 746 students and referred many for treatment or gave deworming medicine at school. Children who had regular CHW follow-up and those who didn’t walk barefoot were less likely to show symptoms. The results suggest that … [Read more...] about Optimizing community health workers and nonbiomedical approaches to assess the burden of soil-transmitted helminthiasis in a school-aged population in rural Rwanda

Community health worker (CHW) programs are essential for addressing health worker shortages and promoting universal health coverage. In Liberia, the Ministry of Health launched a National Community Health Services Policy in 2016 to reform CHW programs and improve health workforce capacity. This study investigates how these reforms affected CHWs involved in delivering Neglected … [Read more...] about Transition and change: opportunities and challenges of CHW programme reform for community health systems and vertical disease programmes in Liberia

The purpose of the study is to test the efficacy of the Optimal Model to improve early diagnosis of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) and therefore minimizing access delays and reducing the burden of disease. The Optimal Model was developed through a collaboration among the national program, lower levels of the health system, and people impacted by NTDs. The annual number of … [Read more...] about The development, implementation, and evaluation of an optimal model for the case detection, referral, and case management of Neglected Tropical Diseases

The purpose of this study was to assess factors associated with job satisfaction among community drug distributors (CDDs) supporting the Nigerian neglected tropical disease (NTD) program in order to identify opportunities to improve job satisfaction in support of NTD control and elimination efforts in Nigeria. A health facility-based cross-sectional survey was conducted in 2019 … [Read more...] about Job satisfaction among community drug distributors in the Mass Drug Administration programme in Nigeria: a cross-sectional study