The prefect of Gbéléban, Addoh Tano, urged, Thursday 1 stJuly 2021, community leaders to become more involved in the mass treatment campaign for schistosomiasis, also called bilharzia at an awareness meeting led by the director of the general hospital of Gbéléban in the meeting room of the prefecture.

The campaign for the free distribution of Praziquantel tablets to children aged 5 to 14 will take place from Friday July 2 to Sunday July 4, 2021. Praziquantel, it has been indicated, is the only drug available against any form of bilharzia and is administered in depending on the size of the beneficiary child.

There are two forms, urinary schistosomiasis which is characterized by a flow of blood in the urine and intestinal schistosomiasis where there is also blood in the stool.

The disease progresses in three phases, namely the penetration phase, the invasion phase and the state phase.

According to statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO), 206 million people are infected with schistosomiasis across the world.

To break the chain of contamination of this endemic disease, the prefect appealed to all parents so that their children of age to receive the tablets are treated.

Schistosomiasis has several complications, including cancer of the bladder, prostate and infertility.

Source: Agence Ivoirienne de presse