Structural readiness to implement community-wide mass drug administration programs for soil-transmitted helminth elimination: results from a three-country hybrid study

Table 1 Demographic characteristics of survey respondents across Benin, India and Malawi (N=275)

Respondent characteristics	Benin (n=122)	India (n=74)	Malawi (n=79)
Stakeholder level
Policymaker	15	3	12
WHO	2	1
National	6	1	8
Implementation partner	2		4
Regional	5	1
Mid-level manager	9	5	10
Implementer	98	66	57
Health centers	12	26	11
CDD/ASHA/HSA	86	40	46
Knowledge of NTD/STH Master Plan
Believes country has a national policy for NTD control^a	94.7%	75.0%	66.7%
Knowledge of NTD Master Plan^b	95.5%	100.0%	80.0%
Identified correct STH policy outlined in Master Plan^c,d	14.3%	25.0%	100.0%
Familiarity with CDDs (%)
Worked as a CDD during previous MDA ^e	83.7%	67.5%	89.1%
Experience training or supervising CDDs^f	83.3%	79.0%⁴	51.5%
Works with CDDs^f	86.1%	88.2%⁴	81.8%
Perceived number of CDDs needed^g [mean (SD)]
Policymaker	17 (14.1)	8 (10.4)	18 (22.1)
Mid-level manager	59 (24.1)	26 (28.3)	15 (20.2)
Implementer	23 (24.3)	28 (22.0)	3 (1.7)
Supervisory characteristics
Involvement in NTD research activities^f	80.6%	79.4%	48.5%
Presents new ideas to supervisors^h	55%	100%	94.4%
Oversees MDA activities at a local level	85.3%	77.0%	74.7%
Material and resources needed for community-wide MDA (% of participants identifying)⁾ⁱ
Information Education Communication (IEC) materials	26.3%	25.2%	25.6%
Access to printing for field materials	15.6%	5.0%	3.0%
Incentives for CDDs	24.1%	21.6%	22.2%
Vehicles and fuel	1.1%	15.1%	11.1%
Well-trained staff	15.3%	21.1%	20.5%
MDA delivery guide for CDDs	12.9%	7.3%	6.8%
Other	1.4%	4.6%	6.0%
Missing	3.3%	0.5%	4.7%

^aAsked to policymaker-level stakeholders (national, state, district, WHO, implementation partners)
^bAmong policymakers and mid-level managers who reported having knowledge of a national policy for the control of NTDs
^cOf those who reported having knowledge of the NTD Master Plan
^dThe correct policy in Malawi is defined as annual national deworming of pre-school and school-age children at school, in India as bi-annual national deworming of pre-school and school-age children at schools and Angawadi centers, and in Benin as annual national deworming of enrolled children (ages 5–14 years)
^eMeasured only among CDDs
^fMeasured among all stakeholders except for CDDs
^gPerceived number of CDDs needed to deliver MDA to a 5000-person catchment area
^hMeasured only among National and regional-level stakeholders
^IParticipants asked to identify three most critical material resources needed to deliver community-wide MDA

ISSN: 2662-2211