Unmet Needs to Treat Schistosomiasis in Children Under Five Years Old in uMkhanyakude District of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Preventive treatment for schistosomiasis control is a priority objective for the Department of Health (DoH) in South Africa. The uMkhanyakude district of KwaZulu-Natal is one of the districts in which schistosomiasis in a major public health concern. We mapped the unmet resource requirements for a schistosomiasis control mass drug administration (MDA) program targeting children aged five years old and below in the uMkhanyakude District. We interviewed 10 decision makers among the uMkhanyakude Health District staff in order to understand the resources that the district has and the resources that the district needs to implement a schistosomiasis control MDA program targeting children aged five years old and below in the uMkhanyakude district. We analyzed and reported on the resources based on the following categories- financing; coverage; program integration; monitoring and evaluation; infrastructure; materials; human resources and training. We identified the resources that the district has and the resources that the district needs to acquire to implement a schistosomiasis MDA program targeting children aged five years old and below. The resources that the district needs to acquire to implement a schistosomiasis control MDA program for children under five include but are not limited to financing, human resources and digital scales. The uMkhanyakude district has insufficient resources to implement a schistosomiasis control MDA program targeting children aged five years old and below. The cost of the resources that need to be acquired for the program could be reduced by integrating the schistosomiasis control MDA program with existing child health intervention programs for children aged five years old and below. Economic evaluations are necessary to determine the child health program to which the schistosomiasis control MDA program could be most cost-effectively integrated to.