title: Keys to success for a school-based malaria control program in primary schools in Thailand.
abstract: School-based malaria control has been recognized as a new approach for the control of this disease in the Greater Mekong Subregion since 2000. We evaluated a school-based malaria control program near the western border of Thailand using a before-after intervention study. The major intervention activities included teacher training with specialized malaria teaching materials and participatory learning methods. The target population was 17 school principals, 111 teachers and 852 schoolchildren of grade 3, 4, and 5 in 17 schools. After the intervention, the teachers taught about malaria more actively than before. The teachers who could design a lesson plan on malaria increased from 30.7% to 47.7% (p=0.015) and the teachers who had taught about malaria increased from 71.9% to 84.3% (p=0.035). As a result of the program, the schoolchildren changed their behavior positively towards malaria prevention with significant difference in 6 of 7 questions. For example, the schoolchildren 'who always took care of mosquito bites' increased from 42.7% to 62.1% (p<0.001) and the schoolchildren 'who always reported their parents or teachers when they had fever' increased from 36.0% to 56.0% (p<0.001). In conclusion, the keys to a successful intervention lie in good teaching materials and a participatory approach utilizing the well-established Thailand's school health system. Beyond Thailand, school-based malaria control could be applied to other Greater Mekong Subregion countries with careful analysis of school health context in each country.
authors.affiliation: The Asian Centre of International Parasite Control, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Thailand. h-okabayashi@it.imcj.go.jp
authors.forename: Hironori
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Okabayashi
authors.forename: Pimpimon
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Thongthien
authors.forename: Pratap
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Singhasvanon
authors.forename: Jitra
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Waikagul
authors.forename: Sornchai
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Looareesuwan
authors.forename: Masamine
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jimba
authors.forename: Shigeyuki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kano
authors.forename: Somei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kojima
authors.forename: Tsutomu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takeuchi
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: Seiki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tateno
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D003479:Curriculum; D004496:Education, Continuing; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005178:Faculty; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008288:Malaria / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008297:Male; D017145:Models, Educational; D012574:Schools; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013785:Thailand