Assessment of the Knowledge on Preventive Measures of Urinary Schistosomiasis Among Secondary Schools Students in Buchosa District, Mwanza, Tanzania

Schistosomiasis is a critical poverty-related health problem, and more than 200 million people are infected. Schistosoma haematobium is widely distributed in Tanzania, mainly in the inland on the eastern and southeastern hinterland of Lake Victoria and lowland zones on the country's east coast. The study aimed to assess the knowledge of preventive measures of urinary schistosomiasis among secondary school students in the Buchosa district, Mwanza. One hundred students were included in the cross-section-descriptive study by using the interviewer-administered questionnaire. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20 software. We revealed that the majority of the students were aware of urinary schistosomiasis transmission. In contrast, only 34% of them mentioned Skin contamination with water containing infectious agents as the major source of the transmission. A large number of people use non-safe surface water for doing their daily domestic activities. The lack of sufficient knowledge is a significant obstacle to eliminating the diseases, particularly in countries with the highest endemicity of disease. Thus, there is an urgent need for an integrated approach targeting the provision of basic sanitation, promotion of hygiene, access to safe water, environment management, and continuous intensive school and community-based health education to highly affected areas.