Hematobium schistosomiasis control for health management of labor force generation at Nkhotakota and Lilongwe in the Republic of Malawi-assumed to be related to occupational risk

Background In Malawi, hematobium schistosomiasis is highly endemic. According to previous studies, countermeasures have been conducted mainly in school-aged children. In this study, we focused on the age groups, which are assumed to be major labor force generation. Hematobium schistosomiasis is supposed to be related to occupational activities in schistosome-endemic countries because of its infectious route. We chronologically followed the transition of schistosome egg-positive prevalence before and after mass drug administration of praziquantel (MDA) by using a urine filtering examination. We also analyzed the effectiveness of urine reagent strips from the cost perspective. Results The egg-positive prevalence was 34.3% (95% CI 28.5–40.5) just before MDA in June 2010 and the highest prevalence was in the age of twenties. The egg-positive prevalence reduced to 12.7% (95% CI 9.2–17.3, p