ABSTRACT
This chapter describes Sociedade Civil Bem-Estar Familiar No Brasil (BEMFAM)'s plans to integrate the delivery of family planning with a broad-spectrum antihelminthic program. BEMFAM activities in Piaui are carried out under the auspices of the State Secretary of Health, who provides health post facilities and distributors for the program. Piaui is a large, sparsely populated state. Its 251,000 square kms make it approximately as large as Guatemala and Nicaragua combined. Antiparasite activities are located in 41 urban and rural schools. In rural areas, family planning services were gradually added to 15 of the rural schools during the eight-month period from September 1980 to April 1981, Evidence suggests an important short-term impact on parasite infection rates. Sixty-three percent of the population has received medication, and infection rates among a large segment of users declined from almost 45 percent to just under 10 percent.
