Abstract: Objective    To understand the effects of health education on schistosomiasis control in primary and secondary school students, and discuss the existing problems and challenges for scientific evidence in formulating health education measures during the 14th Five-Year Plan. Methods    By stratified cluster sampling, we conducted the survey in three stages in the primary and secondary school students in endemic areas from 3 provinces. All participants received written questionnaire response for scoring on the knowledge and awareness of schistosomiasis prevention and control as well as the rate of correct behavior in schistosomiasis prevention. Results    A total of 586 valid questionnaires were retrieved from the participants in this study. The full score rate was 73.5%, and failure rate 0.7%, with an average score of 96.4±8.0. The awareness rate of knowledge and the correct rate of behavior related to schistosomiasis control were 95.7% and 98.2%, respectively. There were statistical differences between male and female students in awareness rate of knowledge （95.2% vs. 96.3%） and correct rate of behavior （97.5% vs. 98.9%） involved in schistosomiasis control（χ²=6.973, 8.101; both P<0.05）. In addition, the awareness rate of knowledge and correct rate of behavior were different between junior middle school students and primary school students（98.9% vs. 92.6%; 99.2% vs. 97.1%; χ²=199.451, 18.443; both P<0.05）. Conclusion     Health education on schistosomiasis control has achieved profound effect on primary and secondary school students, yet the effect remains different between genders and students of different grades, for which health education should be sustained in the future in order to constantly improve the awareness of the population living in the endemic areas in prevention of schistosomiasis infection.

Key words: Primary and secondary school students, Schistosomiasis, Health education, Effect evaluation