Mazigo, Humphrey D.
Zinga, Maria M.
Kepha, Stella
Yard, Elodie
McRee-Mckee, Kevin
Kabona, George
Ngoma, Deogratias D.
Nshala, Andreas
Article History
Received: 10 July 2022
Accepted: 18 October 2022
First Online: 29 December 2022
Declarations
:
: Ethical approval for this study was sought from the National Ethical Committee, National Institute for Medical Research Tanzania (NIMR/HQ/R.8a/Vol. IX/3481). Further permission was sought from the regional and district administrative authorities of the involved regions. Two days before participation in the study, the children received an informed consent form translated into Kiswahili to give to their parent(s)/guardian(s) to read; the latter were invited to school on the day of screening to give their consent. An assent form was developed for children aged 9–13 years for the participating children to read so that they could understand the study procedures and objectives. The purpose of the study, participation and withdrawal rights, and risks and benefits were explained fully to the participants and their parents/guardians.On the day of sample collection, only the assenting children whose consent forms had been signed by their parents/guardians participated in the study. Participation in the study was voluntary and children were free to withdraw from it at any time. For confidentiality purposes, unique codes were assigned to each participant, which were used to identify them for the purposes of this study instead of their names. All study records were maintained in a secured local store by the principal investigator (PI). All children diagnosed with schistosomiasis or STH were treated using PZQ (40 mg/kg) and/or ALB according to WHO recommendations [CitationRef removed]. Any side-effects related to the PZQ treatment were monitored and managed by a health professional (nurses, medical doctors) who were part of the team.
: Not applicable.
: The authors declare they have no competing interest.