Int. J. One Health Vol.8 Article-2
Review Article
International Journal of One Health, 8(1): 8-19
https://doi.org/10.14202/IJOH.2022.8-19
The status of schistosomiasis japonica control in the Philippines: The need for an integrated approach to address a multidimensional problem
2. Neglected Tropical Diseases Study Group, National Institutes of Health, University of the Philippines, Manila, Philippines.
3. Department of Biological Sciences and Environmental Studies, College of Science and Mathematics, University of the Philippines, Mindanao, Philippines.
4. National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, National Institutes of Health, University of the Philippines, Manila, Philippines.
5. Department of Biology, College of Science, De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines.
6. Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, College of Public Health, University of the Philippines, Manila, Philippines.
7. Department of Anthropology, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Philippines.
8. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, College of Public Health, University of the Philippines, Manila, Philippines.
Background and Aim: Schistosomiasis japonica remains a public health concern in many areas of the Philippines. Adequate and updated information is essential to enhance policy and service delivery toward control and elimination. Despite the efforts on schistosomiasis control in the Philippines, some challenges remain in these dimensions. An integrated surveillance system is recommended to determine the prevalence of infection in humans, animal reservoirs, and snail intermediate hosts, allowing the identification of high-priority areas for targeted interventions. This will entail the enhancement of laboratory diagnosis capacity through the use of more sensitive techniques, complemented by capacity building of concerned human and animal health professionals. Given the zoonotic nature of schistosomiasis japonica, adopting the One Health approach is essential to influence policies and interventions that may accelerate control and elimination. This can be achieved through the attainment of mass drug administration coverage targets and intensified case finding and management, robust implementation and integration of veterinary public health activities, the conduct of snail control measures, provision of safe water, sanitation, and hygiene services, and health promotion and education into the national schistosomiasis control and elimination program. This review aimed to describe the status of schistosomiasis japonica control in the Philippines in the context of human health, animal health, vector ecology and management, environmental health, and sociocultural dimensions.
Keywords: neglected tropical diseases, One Health, schistosomiasis japonica, The Philippines.
Received: 08-07-2021 Accepted: 13-12-2021 Published online: 21-02-2022
Corresponding author: Vicente Y. Belizario, Jr. E-mail: vybelizario@up.edu.ph
DOI: 10.14202/IJOH.2022.8-19
Copyright: Navarro, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.