Monitoring drug coverage for preventive chemotherapy – Manual

Overview

Helminth infections impose a great burden on poor populations in the developing world. Yet there are robust, low-cost and effective public health interventions that can relieve that burden and enable people in poor settings to lead better lives. Preventive anthelminthic chemotherapy aims at using available anthelminthic drugs either alone or in combination as a public health tool for preventing morbidity due to more than one form of helminthiasis at once. The emphasis of preventive chemotherapy is therefore on the best, coordinated use of drugs rather than on specific forms of helminthiasis. The greatest challenge is to expand regular anthelminthic drug coverage as a public health intervention to reach all at risk of morbidity induced by helminth diseases.

Working to achieve the objectives of a national programme for the control of Neglected Tropical Diseases by implementing preventive chemotherapy requires regular and careful monitoring of drug coverage. Without reliable information about drug coverage programme managers and their staff cannot monitor programme performance efficiently. Managers must know how many people in need of treatment recieved the treatment, when and where it was offered. This manual provides programmes managers with standardized guidelines for monitoring and reporting of drug coverage for preventive chemotherapy.