Abstract:
Urinary schistosomiasis is a severe threat to global health with uncountable morbidities in Africa
including Nigeria where control interventions focused on children in public and private schools
neglecting Almajiri children. This undermined control interventions as those infected contaminate
the environments with infective stages of the parasite. The objective of the study was to identify
the prevalence ofurinary schistosomiasis amongst Almajiri children in Silame, Sokoto State, North-
westernNigeria. This was a cross-sectional descriptive study, socio-demographic data was
collected in April 2020 on 206 consented Almajiri children in Silame and their urine samples were
examined using the sedimentation method. The study showed a prevalence of 35.4% among the
Almajiri children in Silame, Sokoto State, North-western Nigeria. The highest prevalence was
found among children within the age range 16-20 years (63.6%) while the lowest prevalence was
among those in the age range 6-10 years (24.4%). There was a statistically significant difference in
the occurrence of urinary schistosomiasis between the age groups (χ2 = 11.637a, df =3, p=0.002).
Urinary schistosomiasis was prevalent among Almajiri children in the study area and parasite
infection was associated with the participant's socio-demographic factors such as age, level of
education, and water contact activities. Hence, the National Schistosomiasis Control Programs
should incorporate the Almajiri children in the control interventions
