Piloting WHO’s Guidance: ‘Towards universal health coverage for preventive chemotherapy for neglected tropical diseases: guidance for assessing who is left behind and why’ in Kwara State, Nigeria

Main Objectives

• To evaluate the revised draft of the WHO mainstreaming guidance on integrating a gender, equity and human rights focus into national programming on preventive chemotherapy and transmission (PCT) control for NTDs
• To explore the practicality of using the tool to complete these activities

Summary

The WHO Gender, Equity and Rights (GER) toolkit was developed to address inequities in PC programming for individuals and households who are most affected by the burden of NTDs, particularly in rural settings. The GER tool kit was previously piloted in different settings and was then revised based on findings, necessitating a second pilot.

This pilot study of the revised modular guidance document was carried out in four communities (two rural and two urban) drawn from two LGAs (Patigi and Irepodun) using both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Modules 1 and 2, involved organising relevant state level stakeholders, collating, reviewing analysing routinely collected gender and age disaggregated data from PCT monitoring in the two LGAs to identify potential availability, accessibility, acceptability and coverage issues. In Module 3 and 4, qualitative analysis comprising of focus group discussions and key informants interviews, in addition to joint analysis of data with relevant stakeholders and dissemination meetings were held.