Yemen starts national campaign to fight schistosomiasis

by Mrs Alexandra Grainger

11 March 2013

The annual anti-schistosomiasis campaign in Yemen launched 10 March 2013, financed by The World Bank with SCI providing the technical assistance.

The Yemini government's annual national campaign to fight schistosomiasis commenced on 10 March 2013. This will be the first phase of the second operational year, 2012-13.

Financed by the World Bank, the national campaign to fight schistosomiasis will cover 160 districts in 12 governorates, and target about 45 percent of Yemen's 24 million population aged six years and older.

School-aged children (both those enrolled and non-enrolled in school) and adults in the community will be targeted through fixed teams (operating from schools and health facilities) and mobile teams (operating from health centres, mosques, markets, village leaders' houses,etc.).

This will be followed up with a second phase of the campaign that will target 2m people in the remaining 9 endemic governorates in mid-April 2013.

A Yemeni boy looks at a poster that shows an anti-schistosomiasis campaign at a school in Bait Khairan, 30km north of Sanaa

Social mobilization plays a key role in the success of such campaigns. A combination of banners, posters, leaflets, brochures, TV & radio program broadcasting will be used. Songs and drama have also been produced to attract community members who are illiterate. The campaign will be launched under the auspice of the Yemen Prime Minister, the Minister of Health and Lahj Governor who will attend the launch alongside representatives from International agencies, UN, local authority officals, and the SCI.

According to the World Heath Organization (WHO), Yemen suffers from a high disease burden of schistosomiasis, with three million people estimated to be infected and 600,000 severe chronic cases. (Xinhua/Mohammed Mohammed)

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