Finding guinea worm: guidelines for developing and utilizing market based surveillance in rural Africa

Guinea worm, although not fatal, is a disabling disease that can be relatively easy eradicated if properly identified. Unfortunately, the disease is most common in the remote areas of Africa and Asia, where few health workers and clinics are available. This manual gives guidelines for the identification of endemic areas, using the local farm markets as information sources. Methods of training local field staff and volunteers, literate and illiterate, are given. Project planning, including identification of markets, scheduling, definition of catchment areas, interviewing to determine the local knowledge about the disease, group discussions and information analysis are outlined. Project implementation is discussed, with sections pertaining to administration and logistics, collecting and analyzing reports, verification visits, first aid and community mobilization. Refugee assistance and community structure is another topic that must be included in the eradication effort. The appendices contain pictorial training aids, and local field staff training materials