5B - Management strategies for diseases (Guinea worm, polio, whooping cough)

What is a grassroots strategy

Bottom-up community driven initiative that relies on the work of the people.

What is guinea worm/ how do u get it

drink contaminated water w/ fleas in. Fleas release larvae into the persons stomach, and grow up to 3m in body. When people enter bodies of water the worm’s larvae get released.

Guinea worm cases Ghana1989 vs 2017

1989 - 180,000. 2017 - 0

What did the red cross do to combat guinea-worm

Bottom up strategy

How did the Red Cross’ guinea worm plan work

• Recruited 6,000 local women & taught them how to effectively use water filter

• Realised men weren’t the best targets as they didn’t do water sourcing

• Applied larvacides to contaminated water

• Educated locals through diagrams (aware that literacy rate was low so used strategies they’d understand).

Only area where disease eradication was slower in Ghana?

Northern Ghana - internal conflict so volunteers couldn’t reach there

What strategy was used in Mauritius to eradicate malaria

National top-down approach

Malaria in Mauritius stats

Endemic by 19th C

Killed 1/8 population in 1860

In 1984, what did Mauritian gov. launch

Disease eradication program

What strategies did the Mauritian government use

• Buildings and mosquito breeding sites sprayed with DDT

• Country split into ‘regions’; different people were made responsible to spray all of them

• ‘Spraying indoors’

• introducing fish that eat mosquito larvae

• Free anti-malaria drugs

• Screening passengars at the airport

• Quarantining visitors who come from malaria endemic nations

When did malaria have a resurgance in Mauritus

1975 Cyclone gervais. To rebuild quickly and efficiently they brought migrant workers. However these carried malaria and re-introduced the parasites. Post 1982, declaration of ‘epidemic’. Gov therefore implimented “re-elimination Plan of Action’

Current Malaria in Mauritius

Malaria free according to WHO - less than 30 cases