[Investigation on capacity of provincial parasitic diseases control institutions in main clonorchiasis-endemic areas of China].

OBJECTIVE

To understand the status and capability of professionals at provincial parasitic diseases control institutions in main clonorchiasis-endemic areas of China.

METHODS

The status and capacity of professionals at four provincial parasitic diseases control institutions were collected using questionnaire surveys, including Guangdong, Guangxi, Heilongjiang and Jilin, and the data were analyzed.

RESULTS

There were totally 37 professionals working on parasitic diseases control in the four provincial institutions in 2018, including 33 full-time and 4 part-time professionals, and there were 12, 16, 3 and 6 professionals working at Guangdong, Guangxi, Heilongjiang and Jilin provincial institutions, respectively. Of the 37 professionals, there were 24.32%, 37.84% and 37.84% at ages of 35 years and lower, 35 to 45 years, and greater than 45 years. Men consisted of 54.05% of all professionals, and 86.49% had an education of bachelor and above, while 78.38% had a title of moderate or above. Among all professionals, there were 29 responsible for clonorchiasis prevention and control; however, they all participated in the prevention and control of other parasitic diseases; 33 professionals were able to prepare Kato-Katz smears and 34 read the smears; 30 professionals were able to detect metacercaria in fishes, and 24 and 16 professionals were able to perform immunological and mo-lecular tests. In addition, 26 professionals participated in provincial projects, 19 in national projects; however, few professionals participated in international projects or undertook provincial, national or international projects. Furthermore, there were 34 professionals (91.89%) participating in national trainings on parasitic diseases; however, only 12 (32.43%) completed a training for more than one week.

CONCLUSIONS

There are few professionals at provincial parasitic diseases control institutions in main clonorchiasis-endemic areas of China, and they have a relative high capability in parasitic disease control; however, their research capacity is relative weak.