This paper describes how information was collected at a national conference in Nigeria and a map compiled to give an initial assessment of the distribution and endemicity of dracunculiasis (guinea worm disease) throughout the country. The map provided a stimulus for further studies of the status...

Hazardous alcohol consumption is a worldwide problem with many locally distinctive features across cultures, but studies to guide policy in developing countries are notably lacking. This community study aimed to clarify local patterns of alcohol use in six villages of West Bengal, India. It...

Stigma complicates the treatment of HIV worldwide. We examined whether a multi-component framework, initially consisting of enacted, felt normative, and internalized forms of individual stigma experiences, could be used to understand HIV-related stigma in Southern India. In Study 1, qualitative...

This paper reports on two methods used for identifying alternative indicators of chronic and acute food insecurity. A need for alternative indicators exists since many of the "benchmark" or "gold standard" indicators (such as household income or dietary intake) are too cumbersome to be of...

Skin diseases have been a major source of social stigma, whether they be infectious or not. The potential stigamtizing effect of skin disease associated with onchocerciasis is currently receiving attention because half of the 17 million victims of onchocerciasis in Africa live where the...

This paper reports on the impact of maternal morbidity due to guinea worm, dracunculiasis, on the care and health of children under 24 months old, and the ways in which the mothers and the family coped with the often extended periods of disability. This qualitative study is based on observation...

Disease eradication programmes are by definition time bound and require strategies that facilitate timely intervention. Surveillance, which undergirds eradication, also requires timely strategies. Finding such strategies is especially challenging when the target disease is endemic in remote...

The provision of essential drugs and the involvement of various potential and existing health care providers (e.g. teachers and traditional healers) are two important primary health care strategies. One local group that is already actively supplying the medication needs of the community is the...