BOHEMIA project hosts census training in Rufiji
The BOHEMIA (Broad One Health Endectocide-based Malaria Intervention in Africa) project conducted a two-week census training for fieldworkers and supervisors. The training covered a number of topics including: ethics and their application in research, quality assurance in public health research, best practive and experience in survey design and data collection, and interviewing skills.
BOHEMIA aims to reduce malaria transmission by administering ivermectin to humans and livestock. Ivermectin is an endectocide, a drug with excellent safety profile that can kill ecto and endoparasites, as well as mosquitoes that feed on treated humans or animals.
This four-year project funded by Unitaid conducts two clinical trials in different ecological and epidemiological settings in east and southern Africa, specifically Tanzania and Mozambique. Ivermectin will be distributed in mass drug administration campaigns to humans and livestock, for two consecutive years, in order to reduce mosquito populations that transmit malaria.
This innovative One Health approach also offers an opportunity for preventing neglected tropical diseases in humans, which will have a positive impact on households. Delivery to livestock reduces the burden of intestinal helminths and ecto-parasites in domesticated herds, thereby increasing income and food security.#