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Background: School surveys provide a convenient platform to obtain large child cohorts from multiple communities and are widely used as a proxy to determine community prevalence of neglected tropical diseases. The purpose of this study was to compare trachoma prevalence between preschool- and school-aged children and children who attend and do not attend school., Methods: We analysed data from community-based trachoma surveys conducted from 2008-2011 in Ethiopia, Mali, Niger and Nigeria. The surveys utilised a cross-sectional, randomised cluster design. Individual-level data on school attendance was collected., Results: Overall, 75 864 children aged 1-15 years from 2100 communities were included in the analysis. The prevalence of trachomatous inflammation follicular (TF) among these children in surveyed districts was 19.1% (95% CI 17.9-20.2%) in Ethiopia, 6.2% (95% CI 5.4-6.9%) in Niger, 4.6% (95% CI 4.2-4.9%) in Mali and 4.2% (95% CI 3.5-4.9%) in Nigeria. Controlling for age, sex and clustering, the OR of TF for school-attendees compared to non-attendees was 0.64 (95% CI 0.56-0.73) in Ethiopia, 0.67 (95% CI 0.56-0.80) in Mali, 1.03 (95% CI 0.81-1.16) in Niger and 1.06, (95% CI 0.65-1.73) in Nigeria., Conclusion: Estimating the prevalence of trachoma through examination of only school-going children risks underestimating the true prevalence.

Mass drug administration (MDA) with antibiotics is a key component of the SAFE strategy for trachoma control. Guidelines recommend that where MDA is warranted the whole population be targeted with 80% considered the minimum acceptable coverage. In other countries, MDA is usually conducted by salaried Ministry of Health personnel (MOH). In Plateau State, Nigeria, the existing network of volunteer Community Directed Distributors (CDD) was used for the first trachoma MDA. We conducted a population-based cluster random survey (CRS) of MDA participation to determine the true coverage and compared this to coverage reported from CDD registers. We surveyed 1,791 people from 352 randomly selected households in 24 clusters in three districts in Plateau State in January 2011, following the implementation of MDA. Households were enumerated and all individuals present were asked about MDA participation. Household heads were questioned about household-level characteristics and predictors of participation. Individual responses were compared with the CDD registers. MDA coverage was estimated as 60.3% (95% CI 47.9-73.8%) by the survey compared with 75.8% from administrative program reports. CDD registration books for comparison with responses were available in 19 of the 24 clusters; there was a match for 658/682 (96%) of verifiable responses. CDD registers did not list 481 (41.3%) of the individuals surveyed. Gender and age were not associated with individual participation. Overall MDA coverage was lower than the minimum 80% target. The observed discrepancy between the administrative coverage estimate from program reports and the CRS was largely due to identification of communities missed by the MDA and not reported in the registers. CRS for evaluation of MDA provides a useful additional monitoring tool to CDD registers. These data support modification of distributor training and MDA delivery to increase coverage in subsequent rounds of MDA.