title: Gaining and sustaining schistosomiasis control: study protocol and baseline data prior to different treatment strategies in five African countries.
abstract: The Schistosomiasis Consortium for Operational Research and Evaluation (SCORE) was established in 2008 to answer strategic questions about schistosomiasis control. For programme managers, a high-priority question is: what are the most cost-effective strategies for delivering preventive chemotherapy (PCT) with praziquantel (PZQ)? This paper describes the process SCORE used to transform this question into a harmonized research protocol, the study design for answering this question, the village eligibility assessments and data resulting from the first year of the study.
  
  
  
  Beginning in 2009, SCORE held a series of meetings to specify empirical questions and design studies related to different schedules of PCT for schistosomiasis control in communities with high (gaining control studies) and moderate (sustaining control studies) prevalence of Schistosoma infection among school-aged children. Seven studies are currently being implemented in five African countries. During the first year, villages were screened for eligibility, and data were collected on prevalence and intensity of infection prior to randomisation and the implementation of different schemes of PZQ intervention strategies.
  
  
  
  These studies of different treatment schedules with PZQ will provide the most comprehensive data thus far on the optimal frequency and continuity of PCT for schistosomiasis infection and morbidity control.
  
  
  
  We expect that the study outcomes will provide data for decision-making for country programme managers and a rich resource of information to the schistosomiasis research community.
  
  
  
  The trials are registered at International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial registry (identifiers: ISRCTN99401114 , ISRCTN14849830 , ISRCTN16755535 , ISRCTN14117624 , ISRCTN95819193 and ISRCTN32045736 ).
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA. aezeamam@uga.edu.
authors.forename: Amara E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Ezeamama
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Chun-La
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Ye
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Xiao-Ping
authors.initials: XP
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Sue C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Binder
authors.affiliation: Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Carl H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Campbell
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rathbun
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Whalen
authors.affiliation: Unité de Formation et de Recherche Biosciences, Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.|Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques en Côte d'Ivoire, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.
authors.forename: Eliézer K
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: N'Goran
authors.affiliation: Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland.|University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Jürg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Utzinger
authors.affiliation: University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Annette
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Olsen
authors.affiliation: University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Pascal
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Magnussen
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Medical Research, Mwanza, Tanzania.
authors.forename: Safari
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kinung'hi
authors.affiliation: Schistosomiasis Control Initiative, Imperial College, London, UK.
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fenwick
authors.affiliation: Schistosomiasis Control Initiative, Imperial College, London, UK.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.affiliation: Catholic University of Mozambique, Beira, Mozambique.
authors.forename: Josefo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ferro
authors.affiliation: Centre for Global Health Research, Kenya Medical Research Institute, Kisumu, Kenya.
authors.forename: Diana M S
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Karanja
authors.affiliation: Centre for Global Health Research, Kenya Medical Research Institute, Kisumu, Kenya.
authors.forename: Pauline N M
authors.initials: PN
authors.lastname: Mwinzi
authors.affiliation: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Montgomery
authors.affiliation: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: W Evan
authors.initials: WE
authors.lastname: Secor
authors.affiliation: Réseau International Schistosomoses, Environnement, Aménagement et Lutte (RISEAL-Niger), Niamey, Niger.
authors.forename: Amina
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hamidou
authors.affiliation: Réseau International Schistosomoses, Environnement, Aménagement et Lutte (RISEAL-Niger), Niamey, Niger.
authors.forename: Amadou
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Garba
authors.affiliation: Center for Global Health and Diseases, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Charles H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: King
authors.affiliation: Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.|Department of Microbiology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Colley
mesh_terms: D000349:Africa / Q000453:epidemiology; D000818:Animals; D000871:Anthelmintics / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011223:Praziquantel / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D015995:Prevalence; D011314:Preventive Health Services; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012107:Research Design; D012548:Schistosoma haematobium; D012550:Schistosoma mansoni; D012552:Schistosomiasis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control
chemical_list: D000871:Anthelmintics; D011223:Praziquantel
keywords: Control; Côte d’Ivoire; Kenya; Mozambique; Niger; Praziquantel; Preventive chemotherapy; Schistosoma haematobium; Schistosoma mansoni; Schistosomiasis; Tanzania