Imagine, a child walking barefoot in human sewage, and how the spread of disease could be drastically curtailed by the simple act of giving someone your used shoes... please help Shoe4Africa, to assist Kibera.
What is the impact?
The distribution and promotion of the use of footwear will largely have an impact on reducing transmission of hookworm. The hookworms (Ancylostoma duodenale and Necator americanus) can be transmitted by either ingestion of soil contaminated by the eggs or by the penetration of the skin generally through bare feet by the larvae. In contrast to other soil-transmitted helminths (intestinal worms) which tend to infect school aged children most intensely, hookworm infection can be found as intensely among adults. This is significant as one of the major consequences of hookworm infection is blood loss resulting in anemia which threatens the health of adolescent girls and women of reproductive age and particularly impacting on pregnancy outcomes.
Among school-aged children, chronic hookworm infection has been shown to affect physical growth and intellectual development, to reduce school attendance and performance and to affect adversely future productivity and wage earning.
It is estimated that 750 million people in the world are infected by hookworm. In sub-Saharan Africa, the estimate of198 million is given. It, as many diseases, is strongly linked to poverty. A study in Kenya among students aged 8-20 found that 92% were infected with intestinal worms.
The control of hookworm infection has been linked to the achievement of the Millenium Development Goals including eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, and improving maternal health.
One approach to prevention and control is through sanitation and the safe disposal of feces with the emphasis on the construction and use of latrines. The use of footwear by community members will reduce their risk of infection and thus their role of transmitting the disease. There are also cost-effective drugs available for mass drug administration.
The round worm strongyloids stercolaris can also be transmitted through walking barefoot though the global impact of this parasite is not early that of hookworm.