The deworming program started on January 22

The 27th National Worm Week will begin on January 22. In the first phase, medicines will be given to about 26 million children in all primary and secondary level educational

Jan 17, 2023 - 18:35

The deworming program started on January 22

The 27th National Worm Week will begin on January 22. In the first phase, medicines will be given to about 26 million children in all primary and secondary level educational institutions of 44 districts. The program of the first phase will continue till January 31.

Director General of Health Directorate Professor ABM Khurshid Alam gave this information in a press conference organized on Tuesday afternoon on the occasion of National Worm Control Week 2023. This search-news conference was held in the conference room of the capital's Mohakhali body directorate.
At the press conference, all children aged 5-11 years attending educational institutions and all children aged 12-16 years attending secondary educational institutions will be administered 1 dose of anthelmintic medicine (Mebendazole or Dermox 500 mg) on a full stomach. .

The disease control wing has been conducting deworming programs for children aged 5-16 years with the aim of eliminating deworming from Bangladesh by 2025. The target of celebrating the deworming program is to provide one dose of deworming free to all children aged 5-16 years (school going, out of school, school dropout, street children, working children) through all educational institutions of primary and secondary level. Along with this, awareness should be given about cleanliness and sanitary toilet usage to prevent reinfection of worms.

As a result of teaching these children the necessary physical education in the use of clean and hygienic toilets, it will be transformed into a habit and will be aware of personal body care. Due to which in future children will also get rid of worms and other parasitic diseases.
According to the data published by the World Health Organization, it is known that worm infection is more common in children (0-4 years) 7%, 5-14 years 32%, 15-24 years 15%, 25-44 years 7%, 45 -54 years 5%, over 55 years old - 4% of people.

Based on the mentioned survey, this worm control program has been undertaken among children in various countries of the world. In the country the program was first taken up in 2005 in: 3 districts. The deworming program was gradually extended to 16 districts till June 2007, 24 districts till May 2008 and 64 districts from November 2008. Initially, the program was limited to children aged 6-12 years in primary schools only.

Because the presence of a large number of 6-12 year old children in the community can be easily ensured in primary level educational institutions. And therefore primary level educational institutions such as - government, private, registered primary schools, Beavergartens, Maktabs, Madrasahs and all educational institutions run by NGOs can very easily get more children to consume deworming pills.

Later it can be observed that many 5-year-old children get admitted in various educational institutions and hence 5-year-old children have been included in the program from November 2010 onwards. According to the above data, the rate of internal worm infection among children aged 5-14 years is maximum (32%) so all secondary level educational institutions of the country have been involved to include children aged 12 years and above. From the April round of 2017, with the help of Maushi Directorate, all school going and out-of-school children aged 12-16 years or 6th to 10th class or equivalent are being administered deworming medicine by attending school.

The director general highlighted the success of the worm control program that started in 2008. He said that about 1,20,000 primary level educational institutions (government, private, formal, non-formal schools, madrasas, maktabs) and about 33,000 secondary level educational institutions (vidyalayas, madrasahs) of the entire state are covered by this program. The medication uptake rate among children is 95-98% in each round. The presence of worms in stool examination of children has come down from 80% (2005) to 7.95% (2018-19). Professor Khurshid Alam said, this year the desired target of children consuming medicine in the 1st phase is about 2 crore 60 lakhs.

He said, if the mentioned rate of consumption of deworming medicine continues and if all the children of the country can develop their habits by teaching about cleanliness, we will see worm free children in every room which is said to contribute to the formation of good and healthy clans.