SCI Foundation is now Unlimit Health. Learn more about what the change means for our ongoing efforts to eliminate neglected tropical diseases
Country: Côte d’Ivoire
Implementing partners: Programme National de Lutte Contre les Maladies Tropicales Negligees a Chimiotherapie Preventive (PNLMTN-CP), the NTD programme within the Ministry of Health of Côte d’Ivoire
Timescale: September 2023 to September 2025
Female genital schistosomiasis (FGS) poses a risk to women in Côte d’Ivoire given that Schistosoma haematobium, the parasite responsible for this infection, remains high in some locations.
Unlimit Health supported the Ministry of Health (MoH) Côte d’Ivoire to conduct a pilot study to further understand the problem and how to address it.
The pilot study took place in seven health centres in the district of Soubré. The results indicated that:
The MoH in Côte d’Ivoire is committed to:
Using the results from the pilot study, Unlimit Health is working with the MoH to scale up FGS prevention services across two districts using a combined health centre and community outreach approach.
The health centre approach aims to improve the targeting of services through use of an FGS risk-assessment questionnaire and implementing a surveillance system. Reporting of at risk “cases” through the surveillance system will be used to target women in communities at risk with FGS prevention services.
The ambition is for FGS prevention services to be provided routinely and sustainably on a national scale, alongside an integrated training programme.
A working group of national experts including the MoH NTD Programme, the MoH HIV/AIDS Programme, the MoH Mother and Child Health Programme, the Governing Body of the National Health Information System and research institutions will provide technical and strategic guidance on the scale up approach. The results from the scale-up in two districts, and the pilot study, will be used to inform evidence-based guidelines for the national strategy for FGS.
Your donation will support women at risk in Côte d’Ivoire* to receive the preventive treatment and health education they need.
Our campaign – part of the Big Give Christmas Challenge – is live! Until noon on December 5, every pound you donate will be doubled by our generous sponsors.
*This campaign will help provide services for up to 140,600 women over two years and enable the future roll-out of FGS services across the whole of Côte d’Ivoire.