title: Piloting the promotion of bamboo skirt barriers to prevent Nipah virus transmission through date palm sap in Bangladesh.
abstract: Drinking raw date palm sap contaminated with infected fruit bat saliva or urine is an important mode of Nipah virus transmission to humans in Bangladesh. Bamboo skirts are an effective way to interrupt bat access to the sap. We conducted a study from November 2008 to March 2009 to explore the effectiveness of higher- and lower-intensity interventions by promoting bamboo skirt preparation and use among sap harvesters (gachhis). We spent 280 person-hours in two villages for the higher-intensity intervention and half that amount of time in two other villages for the lower-intensity intervention. To evaluate the interventions we followed up all gachhis once a month for three months. A high percentage of gachhis (83% in higher-, 65% in lower-intensity interventions) prepared and used a skirt of bamboo or other materials - jute stalk, dhoincha (Sesbania aculeata), or polythene - at least once after intervention. In general, 15% of gachhis consistently used skirts throughout the sap collection season. The intensive nature of this intervention is very expensive for a large-scale programme. Future efforts should focus on developing a low-cost behaviour change intervention and evaluate if it reduces the human exposure to potentially contaminated fresh date palm sap.
authors.affiliation: International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), Dhaka, Bangladesh nahar.nazmun@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Nazmun
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nahar
authors.affiliation: International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), Dhaka, Bangladesh.
authors.forename: Utpal Kumar
authors.initials: UK
authors.lastname: Mondal
authors.affiliation: International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), Dhaka, Bangladesh.
authors.forename: M Jahangir
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Hossain
authors.affiliation: International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), Dhaka, Bangladesh.
authors.forename: M Salah Uddin
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.affiliation: International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), Dhaka, Bangladesh.
authors.forename: Rebeca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sultana
authors.affiliation: International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), Dhaka, Bangladesh.
authors.forename: Emily S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Gurley
authors.affiliation: International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), Dhaka, Bangladesh Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, USA.
authors.forename: Stephen P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Luby
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D001459:Bangladesh; D002685:Chiroptera / Q000821:virology*; D003140:Communicable Disease Control; D006293:Health Promotion; D045464:Henipavirus Infections / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000635:transmission*; D006801:Humans; D045405:Nipah Virus; D065749:Phoeniceae; D031787:Sasa
keywords: communicable disease; community; health behaviour; health promotion
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