Benin Ministry of Health (MOH)

Urban dwellers have frequently been included as "hard to reach" when examining MDA coverage and uptake. Poor coverage in urban settings is a key factor that prevents programs in some settings from achieving success. This research study proposes a community-based participatory action research (CBPAR) strategy to better understand the reasons why this population isn’t reached and/or their decision not to participate in onchocerciasis and lymphatic filariasis MDAs. The results will help identify last mile strategies for urban populations and will generate a technical toolkit for how to conduct rapid participatory research in areas that require novel outreach methods amongst hard-to-reach populations. This form of social science methodology has not been used frequently within the NTD community and this proposal offers an opportunity to build the evidence base for these methods within the context of hard to reach populations.

The researchers plan to conduct a number of activities in order to determine the effectiveness of the participatory approach in targeting urban populations as compared to the standard mobilization and delivery approach.

1. Rapid ethnographic interviews, a new technique aimed at rapidly collecting and analyzing qualitative data, to gather community feedback regarding barriers in accessing treatment
2. An intervention development workshop with community leaders, health workers, researchers, and the ministry of health
3. Deliver the newly designed strategy in Za-Kpota district and compare coverage in urban settings to Ouinhi district
4. Finalize a rapid participatory approach toolkit and conduct a time-motion study of the approach to improve the business case to the MoH for uptake 5. Surveys and individual interviews with key stakeholders to determine acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility of the proposed approach and toolkit

1. Can MDA resume and achieve high performance while minimizing risk of COVID-19 transmission through adherence to SOPs?

2. Can local teams easily implement the recommended modifications to MDAs; what is the added cost; and how do the above vary by context?

3. What aspects of local context influence implementation of SOPs?

1. Can MDA resume and achieve high performance while minimizing risk of COVID-19 transmission through adherence to SOPs?

2. Can local teams easily implement the recommended modifications to MDAs; what is the added cost; and how do the above vary by context?

3. What aspects of local context influence implementation of SOPs?

1. Can MDA resume and achieve high performance while minimizing risk of COVID-19 transmission through adherence to SOPs?

2. Can local teams easily implement the recommended modifications to MDAs; what is the added cost; and how do the above vary by context?

3. What aspects of local context influence implementation of SOPs?

Pilot Assessment of Soil-Transmitted Helminthiasis in the Context of Transmission Assessment Surveys for Lymphatic Filariasis in Benin and Tonga. A transmission assessment survey (TAS) is recommended to determine if MDA for LF can be stopped within an evaluation unit (EU) after at least five rounds of annual treatment. The TAS also provides an opportunity to simultaneously assess the impact of these MDAs on STH and to determine the frequency of school-based MDA for STH after community-wide MDA is no longer needed for LF.