Perceived illness drives participation in mass deworming campaigns in Laos》.pdfVIP

Acta Tropica 141 (2015) 281–288 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Acta Tropica j o u rn al h omepage: w w w. elsev /locate/actatropica Perceived illness drives participation in mass deworming campaigns in Laos Khampheng Phongluxa a,b,c , Peter van Eeuwijk b,c,d , Phonepasong Ayé Soukhathammavong a,b,c , Kongsap Akkhavong a , Peter Odermatt b,c,∗ a National Institute of Public Health, Ministry of Health, Ban Kaognot, Sisattanak District, Vientiane Capital, Lao People’s Democratic Republic b Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, P.O. Box, CH-4002 Basel, Switzerland c University of Basel, P.O. Box, CH-4003 Basel, Switzerland d Institute of Social Anthropology, University of Basel, Münsterplatz 19, CH-4051 Basel, Switzerland a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t Article history: Multiple helminth infections are very common in communities of southern Laos. Preventive chemother- Available online 5 April 2014 apy in combination with health education is the mainstay of control. We assessed the knowledge, perceptions and practices of rural communities related to endemic helminthiasis and their control dur- Keywords: ing a mass drug administration (MDA) campaign. Short interviews with household heads (n = 192), direct Knowledge observations and discussions with attendees of MDAs, and in-depth interviews with local opinion leaders Perceptions (n = 21) w