{
  "abstract": "Background: Age-inclusive schistosomiasis policy requires monitoring that distinguishes between eligible age groups. The 2022 World Health Organization (WHO) guideline recommended treatment from 2 years of age in qualifying communities. We examined what public reporting makes visible for adults and school-age children (SAC), distinguishing information availability from programme scope and treatment receipt.\n\nMethods: We analysed all 567 country-year records from 52 countries during the 2014–2024 window in a frozen WHO schistosomiasis Preventive Chemotherapy and Transmission Control databank snapshot. Counts of adults requiring treatment and adults reported as treated were derived using a source-specific contract for interpreting age fields. Population-weighted adult and SAC reported-coverage indicators were each decomposed into a reporting-denominator share and conditional reported coverage. We audited missingness states, count anomalies, and prespecified exclusions and assessed fixed-country support and leave-one-country-out influence. No causal effect of the guideline was estimated.\n\nResults: In 2024, 83,126,427 of 134,806,681 SAC were reported treated (61.7%), compared with 17,368,705 of 118,864,858 adults (14.6%). The SAC indicator combined an 85.2% reporting-denominator share with 72.3% conditional reported coverage; the corresponding adult components were 47.7 and 30.6%. Of the adults represented in the denominator, 34.3% appeared in SAC-only records, potentially reflecting programme scope, and 18.0% in records without an age label. The adult indicator was lower in every year and in every sensitivity analysis. However, programme expectations were not the same throughout the study period: 2014–2021 preceded the broader guideline, whereas 2022–2024 represented the early calendar years following or coinciding with its publication. Logical missing-report envelopes placed the 2024 adult-minus-SAC difference between −61.8 and +5.3 percentage points, leaving the actual ordering of treatment coverage between adults and SAC unidentified.\n\nConclusion: The reported adult–SAC difference combines the availability of valid age-specific treatment information with the treatment reported within supported records. A low reporting-denominator share cannot distinguish programme scope from incomplete reporting. Preschool-age treatment was not separately observable. Age-inclusive monitoring requires explicit age categories and documented eligibility and reporting states; these data do not identify verified uptake, individual equity, or causal guideline effects.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "College of Basic Medical Science, Dalian Medical University"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 1,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Xinrui Xu"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/cgqaw012n3f2t.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.3389/fpubh.2026.1969131",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "cgqaw012n3f2t",
  "issns": [
    "2296-2565"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2026.1969131/full",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "2405|Parasites and Host Interactions"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7223928806",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2026.1969131/pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-27",
  "publisher": "Frontiers Media SA",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/cgqaw012n3f2t.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:20:24Z",
      "native_id": "10.3389/fpubh.2026.1969131",
      "source": "crossref",
      "url": "https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2026.1969131/full"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "openalex:2405|Parasites and Host Interactions",
      "subfield": "microbiology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Age-group visibility in WHO schistosomiasis reporting: decomposing preventive-chemotherapy coverage indicators, 2014–2024",
  "title_text": "Age-group visibility in WHO schistosomiasis reporting: decomposing preventive-chemotherapy coverage indicators, 2014–2024",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:20:24Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/cgqaw012n3f2t",
  "venue": "Frontiers in Public Health",
  "versions": []
}