Trial staff, healthcare providers, and program managers.
Similar recommendations to those of the parents/caregivers were made by the trial staff, healthcare providers and program managers.The recommendation is to improve the taste of the drugs as well as the smell if possible so that these drugs will be much easier to take and absorb. It is important during the organization of these campaigns to make available to health structures the necessary means to take charge correctly, and in communication to inform the populations, because the principle of medicine is to do no harm: if we give drugs that are not, and which have side effects, we must not make the parents bear the burden and therefore, we must take steps so that the local health authorities, that whether regional, whether hospital, district or health post level, can have the means to take charge of these cases in case side effects may occur. They also advocated using appropriate awareness-raising strategies that take into consideration the nuances of the adolescent population. Collaboration with the education sector through the school-based health platform was cited as an appropriate channel to better reach the adolescents who are school going. Using social media platforms to deliver strategic messages that could cater for the information needs of the adolescents was also identified as a way to strengthen the awareness program on the integrated anthelminthic–SMC approach.In any campaign there are refusals that are always recorded; the solution is to organize during these campaigns management committees for cases of refusal to do the advocacy, and also to guarantee to these populations the safety of what we are doing and once they are convinced, I believe they will be able to adopt and agree to take these drugs. Use all possible channels, currently social networks are very popular with this age group, we have TikTok, we have Facebook, we have all these current tools. I think we will have to adapt the communication to this population through social media and similar networks because young people no longer listen to the radio, or watch local TV stations like before. We can also reach them through their associations, through WhatsApp groups and others to ensure that there is a clear message that can be digested by these young people. Concerning the possibility of establishing a joint team of SMC and NTD program officers to adapt working practices and implement an integrated treatment approach, program managers were unequivocal in their support to work towards entrenching such partnerships. They reiterated the benefits inherent in integrating the control programs to minimize cost and maximize efficiency in delivery and health outcomes of the target population.Everything will depend on the results of this study and the different aspects that I have talked about because the overall advantage of this strategy is to save time and money to organize the two separate campaigns because the Ministry of Health is used to organizing these two campaigns. If the results of the final evaluation shows that there is efficacy and safety in the administration of these combined drugs, why would we not make recommendations in this direction? First you have to disseminate the findings of this study because all things you have gathered in this study needs to be shared with all the players. The different actors need to discuss together to find a solution, and move towards this combination of treatment, especially in areas with high prevalence. More importantly, we know that we have to carry out several interventions, and we are all convinced of the benefits of integration. We have even set up a pilot project to integrate NTD with the other existing platforms in the district of Koungheul. So to ensure the sustainability of our interventions, we have to move towards integration. 