ArticlePLoS neglected tropical diseases2021
Children as messengers of health knowledge? Impact of health promotion and water infrastructure in schools on facial cleanliness and trachoma in the community.
Article in PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 8 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effect of virtual education on health responsibility of overweight students during the COVID-19 pandemic.BMC public health · 2024Trial
- Field notes: Children as WASH ambassadors-Insights from Pakistan's trachoma elimination programme.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2025Article
- Hygiene and sanitation-related socio-ecological contexts and constraints of communities in districts with persistent trachoma, Southern Ethiopia.BMC infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Impact of a School Trachoma Program Emphasizing Facial Cleanliness and Environmental Improvement in Amhara, Ethiopia.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2024Article
- Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices of Hygiene and the Prevention of Trachoma in the Indigenous Population of the Colombian Amazon Vaupés Department.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Integrated people-centered eye care: A scoping review on engaging communities in eye care in low- and middle-income settings.PloS one · 2023Article
- Trachoma.Nature reviews. Disease primers · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundHealth promotion is essential to the SAFE strategy for trachoma elimination. Schools are a valuable venue for health promotion. However, there is little literature about the impact of health education and water infrastructure in schools on facial cleanliness and trachoma in the community. Our study aimed to describe the current state of school health promotion in Kongwa, Tanzania, and to examine the transferability of health messages from schools to the community at large. METHODOLOGY/
findingsA cross-sectional survey was carried out in all 92 villages in Kongwa district, which included 85 primary schools. Data were collected on health messages and water infrastructure in the schools. A random sample of 3084 children aged 0-5 were examined for facial cleanliness in all villages. In 50 villages, a random sample of 50 children aged 1-9 per village were examined for follicular trachoma (TF). Thirty-seven (44.6%) schools had educational materials on face-washing. Fifty (60.2%) schools had a washing station. The presence of a health teacher was correlated with having posters on face washing in classrooms. The presence of face-washing materials was correlated with the availability of washing stations. Neither teachers mentioning face-washing in health curricula nor educational materials in classrooms were associated with clean faces or trachoma in the community. Having a washing station in the school was associated with lower community rates of trachoma.
conclusionsPrimary school health messages and materials on trachoma were not associated with clean faces or lower rates of trachoma in the community. The target audience for primary school health promotion is likely the students themselves, without immediate rippling effects in the community. A long-term perspective should be considered during the implementation of health promotion in schools. The goal of school health promotion should be training the next generation of parents and community health leaders in combatting trachoma.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.