Students administered medicines on De-Worming day

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, December 6

The health authorities of Bathinda and Mansa districts celebrated the ‘De- Worming Day’ in their respective districts on Friday by administering medicines to schoolchildren.

Paramedical staff administered medicines to children at schools and anganwari centres. Students in government schools are being administered medicine after every six months.

During the programme held at Bathinda Meritorious School,.

Civil Surgeon Dr Tejwant Singh Randhawa and District Education Officer (primary) Shivpal Goyal were present, among others.

The school-based de-worming is one of the most cost-effective, safe and simple methods. The programme was targeted to reach out school-age and pre-school children, out-of-school girls through public schools, anganwadi centres, and Gender Resources Centers.

Two teachers from each school who have attended the teacher training session,can train their colleagues to help in the school-based deworming activities.

Representatives of the Parent Teacher Association and School Management Committee are also invited to attend the programme.

Target groups for the programme include children falling in the age group from 6 to15 years, as prevalence and the intensity of worm infection are the highest among children falling in this age group.

In government schools the medicines are being administered after the mid-day meals, as children require food and clean water with the medication.

Two types of worms that most commonly affect children are schistosomes (also known as bilharzia) and soil-transmitted helminths (STH), which include roundworm, whipworm, and hookworm.

Worms affect the health of children, potentially causing anemia, malnourishment, Impairment of mental and physical development.

The short term Children with worms may be too sick or tired to attend school or to concentrate . Similarly in long term, like under nutrition, worms are associated with Impaired cognitive development and decreased educational achievement, poor performance on cognitive function tests which delays reaction times, and poor short term memory.

District School Health Programme Coordinator, Bathinda, Manphool Singh, said, “This time the De-worming Day was celebrated at Meritorious School.Chief Medical Officer himself administer medicines to children. As per the World Health Organisation(WHO), over 400 million school-age children worldwide are infected with parasitic worms.”

"On an average, each child needs one tablet of either albendazole (400mg) or mebendazole (500mg) for STH worm and 2 to 5 tablets of praziquantel (600mg) for schistosomiasis worms,” added Manphool.

QUOTE:

“As per the World Health Organisation(WHO), over 400 million school-age children worldwide are infected with parasitic worms. On an average, each child needs one tablet of either albendazole (400mg) or mebendazole (500mg) for STH worm and 2 to 5 tablets of praziquantel (600mg) for schistosomiasis worms”

District School Health Programme Coordinator, Bathinda,

Manphool Singh