New paper in Plos Neglected Diseases

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Our paper “Social Network Analysis of the Schistosomiasis control program in two local government areas in Oyo state, Nigeria: Insights for NTD elimination plans” is now online in PLOS Neglected Diseases.

Abstract: Schistosomiasis is one of the neglected tropical diseases which is planned for elimination by 2030. Eliminating the disease requires collaboration among important government, community, healthcare providers and non-governmental organizations representatives working on schistosomiasis. The current level of cooperation and collaboration among these representatives in Oyo state, Nigeria is unknown. This study aimed to measure the extent and strength of collaboration among these representatives looking at three relationships: contact, collaboration and resource sharing activities using social network analysis method. Undertaking this research will support a better understanding of barriers against meeting the disease elimination deadline. The social network analysis found that the three relationships patterns had considerable clustering among representatives and few connections, signifying low interconnectedness across several representative groups. The contact and collaborative relationships were the most active, with the resource-sharing network having the lowest amount of interconnectedness. Representatives were more active in rural areas than urban, and representatives in the organized government and the public health system were the most active actors in the schistosomiasis control program. The schistosomiasis control program’s representative’s poor connectedness, unbalanced relationships patterns should be addressed in order to stimulate improvement and reach the WHO schistosomiasis elimination objective.