New Release: ESPEN Introduces Version 6 of Community Data Analysis Tool
In February 2024, the Expanded Special Project for Elimination of NTDs (ESPEN) released version 6 of its community data analysis tool for schistosomiasis. This updated tool represents a critical step towards refining preventive treatment strategies in sub-Saharan Africa, home to over 90% of individuals requiring treatment globally. This tool update aligns with WHO's new schistosomiasis guidelines, emphasizing targeted mass drug administration (MDA) in communities where prevalence exceeds 10%, based on a more precise epidemiological analysis at the community level. This approach addresses the challenge of over or under-treatment in past strategies that relied on district-level data. The tool's update aims to better estimate the number of individuals needing preventive chemotherapy, thereby enhancing the management of praziquantel donations and accelerating progress towards the NTD roadmap 2030 targets by ensuring treatments are more accurately directed towards communities in need.
The Version 6 update of the community data analysis tool for schistosomiasis incorporates a refined methodology and additional criteria to more accurately specify populations requiring treatment. In line with the latest Schistosomiasis WHO guidelines 2022, it introduces distinctions between urban and rural communities to optimize mass treatment strategies. This update leverages detailed data at the subdistrict/community level, and incorporates various survey and treatment metrics, including diagnostic techniques, preventive chemotherapy rounds, and treatment frequency adjustments based on long-term impact assessments. Moreover, the tool has been made more user-friendly by combining English and French versions into a single workbook and expanding its scope to include additional population groups beyond school-age children, such as preschool children and women of reproductive age, with population indicators synchronized with the ESPEN database. Treatment strategies are fine-tuned based on either baseline or impact survey data, reflecting a holistic approach to managing and distributing treatments more efficiently.
The schistosomiasis community data workbooks serve mutliple purposes, including disaggregating epidemiological data to the community level; identifying mapping and impact assessment gaps, facilitating community-level intervention planning, and quantifying estimated medicines needed at the community level to refine medicine data for WHO's Joint Request for Selected Medicine (JRSM) form. The progress on this tool has benefited contributions from NTD Programme Managers, data experts from the Africa region, and key partners such as Unlimit Health and the Global Schistosomiasis Alliance, including the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (UK) among others.
An update of the schistosomiasis community data analysis workbooks with the most recent M&E and impact assessment data are available for all countries in the WHO Africa region for 2024. These updated resources are already being utilized by countries in their efforts. It is expected that countries will continue to review their community level data on an annual basis based on new data and progress in interventions.