Summary
The TUMIKIA Project aims to determine the most cost-effective treatment strategy and delivery system to achieve the ultimate goal of interrupting transmission of soil-transmitted helminths (STH or intestinal worms).
TUMIKIA stands for 'Tuangamize Minyoo Kenya Imarisha Afya' this is Swahili for 'eradicate worms in Kenya to improve health'.
Background and study design
Approximately 15 million Kenyans are estimated to be infected with STH - hookworm, Ascaris and Trichuris - and more than 5 million of them are children. The Government of Kenya is committed to eliminating sth following t he current control strategy recommended by the World Health Organization: annual treatment of all school-aged children using albendazole or mebendazole. In Kenya, the National School-Based Deworming Programme (NSBDP) dewormed 5.9 million children aged 2-14 in 2012-2013 and 6.4 million children in 2013-2014 for STH. Building on this success, the Government of Kenya plans to reach other members of the community also infected with STH, building on the government’s recent successes in using community health workers to deliver simple health interventions.
The project implemented a large cluster randomised trial that will provide albendazole to 120 community clusters in Kwale county, Kenya to evaluate three different strategies:
- Annual school-based deworming: pre-school and school-age children receive deworming once a year as part of the national school-based deworming programme.
- Increased coverage: all community members (including adults) receiving deworming once a year delivered by community health workers.
- Increased coverage & frequency: all community members (including adults) receive deworming twice a year delivered by community health workers.
For full details, download our research brief. For more information about the NSBDP, read the report for Year 2 (2013-2014). If you'd like more detail, contact trial coordinator katherine.halliday [at] lshtm.ac.uk (Dr. Katherine Halliday).
Updates
Innovative TUMIKIA research project nears completion May 2017
TUMIKIA is hiring - Data and field officers wanted Feb 2017
Deworming 300,000 in Kenya: A photo essay Dec 2016
How do women percieve the risks and rewards of deworming during preganancy Nov 2016
What 26,000 stool samples can tell us Sept 2016
WASH conditions in schools June 2015
Worm expulsions June 2015
Developing training materialsMay 2015
Baseline surveys Q+A with trial coordinator, Dr. Kate Halliday May 2015
Sensitisation activities March 2015,
Kwale County Stakeholders Meeting September 2014
Study site
Kwale County on the coast and Busia and Siaya counties in western Kenya
The two-year project brings together research expertise from the LSHTM, the Kenya Medical Research Institute, the Kenyan Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education, Science & Technology, Imperial College London and Deworm the World at Evidence Action. This trial is part of a growing commitment to control NTDs as outlined in new funding commitments announced at a summit meeting in Paris in April 2014. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation also announced a new STH strategy which provides a framework for this trial.
Funding
The TUMIKIA Project is possible thanks to generous funding from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, with additional support from the Joint Global Health Trials scheme, Children's Investment Fund Foundation and the Wellcome Trust.