More than 600,000 students targeted in bilharzia campaign

Around 680,870 boys and girls between the ages of 6 and 18 in 1774 schools have been targeted for four days as part of the third phase of the national campaign to rid 32 districts in Sana’a, Ibb, Lahjj, Sa’ada, Hodeidah, and Shabwa of bilharzia.  

Launched Sunday, the campaign was organized by the Ministry of Public Health and Population in cooperation with the World Bank and World Health Organization. 

The total cost of implementing this phase of the campaign is estimated at more than YR 90 million. More than 2,516 people were trained in advance for this phase. They include 1,504 volunteers, mostly teachers, and 968 medical specialists. Volunteers and medical staff were provided with 155 cars, around two million tablets for the treatment of bilharzia, and more than 715,000 doses for the treatment of soil-borne parasites in addition to the supportive iron medicines at an estimated cost of up to YR 46 million with government funding.

Bilharzia is a human disease caused by parasitic worms called Schistosomes. Over one billion humans are at risk worldwide, and approximately 300 million are infected. Bilharzia is common in the tropics where ponds, streams and irrigation canals harbor bilharzia-transmitting snails. Parasite larvae develop in snails from which they infect humans, their definitive host, in which they mature and reproduce. 

Within days after becoming infected, you may develop a rash or itchy skin. Fever, chills, cough, and muscle aches can begin within 1-2 months of infection. Most people have no symptoms at this early phase of infection. 

Eggs travel to the liver or pass into the intestine or bladder. Rarely, eggs are found in the brain or spinal cord and can cause seizures, paralysis, or spinal cord inflammation. For people who are repeatedly infected for many years, the parasite can damage the liver, intestines, lungs, and bladder. Even without treatment, damage to these organs occurs only rarely.

Symptoms of schistosomiasis are caused by the body’s reaction to the eggs produced by worms, not by the worms themselves.

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