‘Deworming’ drive launch tomorrow

With an aim to target the growing incidence of anaemia in children, the government will launch a mega scheme for “worm treatment” in Hyderabad on Wednesday. Union health minister J.P. Nadda will launch the scheme. Targeting pre-school (anganwadi) and school-based children, “deworming day” will be observed on February 10 wherein Albendazole 400 mg chewable tablet will be administered to children aged 1-19 in schools and anganwadis across the country. A mop-up day for all those children who could not receive the deworming tablet due to absenteeism or sickness on deworming day is scheduled for February 15. This is the second national deworming day after the health ministry initiated the scheme last year.

The government has now expanded the programme to all states and Union Territories of India to ensure intensive deworming coverage.

“Periodic deworming of children together with improved water, sanitation and health education, can significantly reduce the prevalence and debilitating health impacts of parasitic worms in children,” said C.K Mishra, Additional Secretary and Mission Director.

The effort gains significance as malnutiriton among children is a significant public health challenge in India, with about 79 per cent of the children who are less than three years anaemic. According to the 2012 report ‘Children in India’, published by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, 48% of children under the age of 5 years are stunted and 19.8% are wasted.

Significantly, many studies have even claimed that periodic mass deworming with albendazole as a safe mean and effective method that could be adopted at the community level or as an integral part of school health services and could be expected to improve growth and reduce the incidence of diarrhoea in children.

“With just a simple tablet, we can improve a major health issue that negatively impacts so many children in our country. Last year’s National Deworming Day had enormous scope and reach, and I am pleased we are able to expand the efforts in 2016 to reach about 270 million children throughout India,” said Dr. Rakesh Kumar, Joint Secretary in the ministry of health.