Effects of 3 years of health promotion programs to control schistosomiasis in students in highly endemic areas of Poyang Lake

Objective To observe the effects of health promotion programs to control schistosomiasis in highly endemic areas. Methods An experimental study was performed. After a baseline survey,intervention in the form of "disseminating information + increasing participation + encouraging behavior" was used with a test group for 3 years running,and the effect of this intervention was evaluated Results Differences between the test group and control group in terms of the level of knowledge of schistosomiasis control,the accuracy of attitudes about schistosomiasis control,the level of contact with infected water,and the rate of schistosomiasis infection were not statistically significant (P0.05). In the test group,the level of knowledge of schistosomiasis control and the accuracy of attitudes about schistosomiasis control increased from 12.30% and 11.51% before intervention to 97.89% and 99.16% one year after intervention,and the level of contact with infected water and the rate of schistosomiasis infection both decreased from 16.84% and 9.52% before intervention to 0 one year after intervention; the difference was statistically significant (P0.05). In the control group,there were no statistically significant differences in these indices before and one year after intervention (P0.05). Two to three years after intervention,none of the students in the test group had come in contact with infected water or been infected with schistosomes. Conclusion Intervention in the form of health promotion,i.e. "disseminating information + increasing participation + encouraging behavior," can effectively control and prevent schistosomiasis from infecting students in areas where schistosoma japonica is highly endemic.