Published in

Cambridge University Press, Journal of Biosocial Science, S1(48), p. S56-S73, 2016

DOI: 10.1017/s0021932016000067

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

Community co-designed schistosomiasis control interventions for school-aged children in Zanzibar

This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.

Full text: Unavailable

Green circle
Preprint: archiving allowed
Red circle
Postprint: archiving forbidden
Red circle
Published version: archiving forbidden
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

SummaryTop-down biomedical interventions to control schistosomiasis in sub-Saharan Africa have had limited success, primarily because they fail to engage with the social, political, economic and ecological contexts in which they are delivered. Despite the call to foster community engagement and to adapt interventions to local circumstances, programmes have rarely embraced such an approach. This article outlines a community co-designed process, based upon Human-Centered Design, to demonstrate how this approach works in practice. It is based on initial work undertaken by social science researchers, public health practitioners and community members from the Zanzibar Islands, Tanzania, between November 2011 and December 2013. During the process, 32 community members participated in a qualitative and quantitative data-driven workshop where they interpreted data on local infections from S. haematobium and co-designed interventions with the assistance of a facilitator trained in the social sciences. These interventions included the implementation of novel school-based education and training, the identification of relevant safe play activities and events at local schools, the installation of community-designed urinals for boys and girls and the installation of community-designed laundry-washing platforms to reduce exposure to cercariae-contaminated fresh water. It is suggested that the a community co-designed process, drawing from Human-Centered Design principles and techniques, enables the development of more sustainable and effective interventions for the control of schistosomiasis.