03007nas a2200265   4500000000100000008004100001260003100042653001100073653003800084653002000122653003900142653002900181100001300210700001300223700001600236700001400252700001500266700001400281700001400295245015000309856006600459300001200525490000700537520219700544       2016                            d  bZambia Medical Association10aZambia10aSoil-Transmitted Helminths (STHs)10aschistosomiasis10aNeglected tropical diseases (NTDs)10aMass drug administration1 aSokesi T1 aMalama K1 aMasaninga F1 aVwalika B1 aKachimba J1 aMufunda J1 aSongolo P00aLessons learnt from the implementation of mass drug administration for schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminths in Lusaka Province, Zambia.  uhttp://www.ajol.info/index.php/mjz/article/view/143981/133686  a82–870 v433 a<p>Background: Zambia is endemic for four of the global&nbsp;Preventive Chemotherapy Neglected Tropical Diseases&nbsp;(PC-NTD) targeted for elimination and control, namely&nbsp;schistosomiasis, trachoma, lymphatic filariasis (LF) and&nbsp;soil transmitted helminths (STH). These diseases are&nbsp;associated with disfigurement, reduced productivity,&nbsp;reduced cognitive potential and hence affect the economic&nbsp;development of the households, communities and the&nbsp;country. They largely affect communities with socioeconomic&nbsp;challenges, limited access to safe and clean&nbsp;water and lacking sanitary facilities. These diseases are&nbsp;preventable with chemotherapy being amenable to&nbsp;integrated community and school based mass drug&nbsp;administration coupled with PHASE strategies. This&nbsp;study explores lessons learnt from the implementation of&nbsp;mass drug administration for Schistosomiasis and Soiltransmitted&nbsp;helminths in Lusaka, Zambia.<br />
Methodology: Lusaka province was targeted by Ministry&nbsp;of Community development, Mother and Child Health as&nbsp;the area for implementation of mass drug administration&nbsp;for Schistosomiasis and Soil-transmitted helminths using&nbsp;identified 666 health service delivery posts as drug&nbsp;distribution points in selected districts. A total of&nbsp;2,208,617 people were targeted to be dispensed with&nbsp;Praziquantel, while 773,016 were targeted to be dispensed&nbsp;with Mebendazole in Lusaka only. These medicines were&nbsp;given to all children and adults considered to be at high&nbsp;risk of Schistosomiasis and Soil Transmitted Helminths&nbsp;respectively. Specific targets to be met were set.<br />
Results: Luangwa, Chongwe and Shibuyunji districts&nbsp;surpassed their targets beyond 100%. Chirundu, Kafue&nbsp;and Rufunsa districts surpassed the 75% target. Lusaka&nbsp;district managed a coverage of 24% and this brought the&nbsp;overall provincial coverage to 41%. This was below the&nbsp;set target of 75%.<br />
Conclusion: The exercise revealed that implementation&nbsp;of MDA with high coverage is feasible. This needs to be&nbsp;improved in areas not meeting the set targets.</p>