Exploring the elements of educational intervention for sustainable trachoma prevention programs / 国際保健医療

ABSTRACT

Objective  To explore and extract the elements of educational intervention from sustainable trachoma prevention programs in developing countries particularly in Africa.Methods  Literature review was conducted with the search engine, PubMed, with extracting keywords as “Trachoma, intervention, education, SAFE, hygiene, WASH, sustainable, sustainability, and elimination”. After carefully reading the extracted literature and assessing the sustainability of the interventions conducted in Sub-Saharan Africa, using analytical standpoint determined by the JICA evaluation items on sustainability, the elements of educational interventions were categorized.Result  Twenty-two articles were extracted and 10 articles that specifically state effectiveness and contents of intervention were selected for analysis. Five categories with elements of educational intervention were classified as follows [Education in school age and community], [Intangible and tangible support], [Guidance of constructing latrines], [Guidance on how to use equipment and resources], and [Continuation of knowledge and skill transfer activities].Discussion  The results of this study suggested the significance of conducting educational intervention, not only the construction but also the management and maintenance of latrines, and the effectiveness of habituation of hygiene behavior to school children by implementing hygiene education at schools which behavior may also diffuse at home. Challenges remained in trachoma prevention effort who are left out of the support, such as unenrolled children who are unable to receive school hygiene education, and/or those who are inaccessible to clean water.Conclusion  Elements for educational intervention in sustainable trachoma prevention were examined in this study. It was shown that continuous holistic efforts should be made for the educational interventions as well as for the improvement of accessibility of clean water and hygiene without leaving people and the least developed countries behind.