title: Sustaining a hygiene education intervention to prevent and control geohelminth infections at schools in the Peruvian Amazon.
abstract: The World Health Organization currently recommends that school-based deworming programs include health hygiene education as a complementary measure. However, the sustainability and long-term impact of such hygiene education had yet to be assessed. In July 2012, this cross-sectional study was conducted in 18 primary schools in the Peruvian Amazon to gauge continuing adherence to a health hygiene education intervention introduced 2 years earlier to reduce soil-transmitted helminth infections. Due in large part to high teacher turn-over, only 9 of 47 (19.1%) teachers were still implementing the intervention. Health hygiene education interventions must, therefore, be designed to ensure sustainability in order to contribute to the overall effectiveness of school-based deworming programs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Occupational Health, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: François L
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Thériault
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Epidemiology, Royal Victoria Hospital Campus, McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, theresa.gyorkos@mcgill.ca.
authors.forename: Brittany
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Blouin
authors.affiliation: Asociación Civil Selva Amazónica, Iquitos, Peru.
authors.forename: Martín
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Casapía
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Epidemiology, Royal Victoria Hospital Campus, McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, theresa.gyorkos@mcgill.ca.
authors.forename: Theresa W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Gyorkos
mesh_terms: D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006373:Helminthiasis / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D006920:Hygiene; D010568:Peru; D012574:Schools