Zimbabwe Bilharzia Essay Competition

As part of our research programmes in rural Zimbabwe we have been involved in a series of talks on Bilharzia to teach the children about the life cycle of the parasites causing the infection and simple methods to prevent infection.

This initiative arose from our previous questionnaire studies which showed that the school children knew relatively less about bilharzia than malaria and that there were several misconceptions about the transmission of schistosome parasites.

This year, under our Understanding Bilharzia Programme which is collaborative between the University of Edinburgh, the University of Zimbabwe and the Ministry of Health in Zimbabwe's Research wing, the National Institute of Health Research, we ran an Essay competition in 2 primary schools, Chingwaru Primary School and Chingono Primary School in Murewa. We have been working in these schools since 2012, conducting fieldwork for our project on paediatric schistosomiasis which is funded by the Thrasher Research Fund.

We received around 60 entries from children in grades 5 to 7 and 3 winners were selected from each school, with the student writing the best essay from each school receiving a scholarship to cover their fees for the remaining academic year. Please do take time to read the winning entries; they are both enlightening and entertaining!

Essay Poster

Winning Essays