New approaches to social and economic research on schistosomiasis in TDR (Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases).

This paper describes new approaches to social and economic research being developed by the Social and Economic Research component of the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases of the World Health Organization. One of these is a study to assess the possibility of identifying high risk communities for urinary schistosomiasis through a "mailed" questionnaire approach distributed through an existing administrative system, thereby eliminating the need for face-to-face interviews by the research or disease control team. This approach, developed by the Swiss Tropical Institute in Ifakara, Tanzania, is currently being tested in seven other African countries. The paper also describes a change of emphasis of economic research on schistosomiasis, focusing on the intra-household effects of the disease on rural households, rather than, as previously done, studying the impact of the disease on the productivity of individual wage labourers. Other priorities involve the identification of epidemiological information needed for improved decision-making regarding acceptable treatment strategies in endemic areas with limited financial capacity, as well as research on how the adverse effects of economic development projects can be alleviated.