School-based health education targeting intestinal worms—further support for integrated control

Our report, which describes success in preventing soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections in Chinese schoolchildren through the use of a health education package that includes a 12-minute cartoon, ‘‘The Magic Glasses,’’ may thus prove timely. The results from the cluster randomized intervention trial, conducted in 38 rural Chinese schools and involving 1,718 children, showed that the videobased health education package had 50% efficacy in preventing new STH infections after treatment [2]. This study established proof of principle that health education can indeed increase knowledge and change behavior, resulting in fewer intestinal worm infections. However, we have a ways to go before we can show broad application, and we appreciate that these findings will require further validation in other epidemiological and cultural settings. ; This work was supported by UBS Optimus Foundation, Zurich, Switzerland. FAB was a holder of a University of Queensland Research Scholarship, University of Queensland International Research Tuition Award, Australian Scholarships Endeavour Award and Queensland Institute of Medical Research Scholarship. DPM is a National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia Senior Principal Research Fellow. DJG is an Australian Research Council Fellow (DECRA). YSL is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow. No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.