Second round of deworming campaign tomorrow

Islamabad : Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of Planning Development and Reforms Kanwal Shauzab has announced that the second round of the mass deworming programme will be carried out across the federal capital on April 30 (tomorrow).

The first round of the school-based initiative was held by the Ministry of PD&R in collaboration with the Health Services and Regulation Ministry and Federal Education Ministry on January 31 to address the children’s vulnerability to the debilitating soil-transmitted helminth infections through the provision of deworming tablets, necessary information and advocacy material free of charge.

The parliamentary secretary urged the people to ensure the deworming of their children at the government model colleges and private schools on the April 30 morning, saying healthy and vigorous Pakistan is the Naya Pakistan.

She said trained school teachers would give away deworming medicine, which was universally recognised as a safe and cost-effective treatment, to the children.

The initiative, the brainchild of the Planning Commission and the first of its kind to be introduced in the country, will protect the children between five and 15 years in urban and Bhara Kahu, Nilore and Tarnol areas of Islamabad from intestinal parasitic worms, which can lead to anaemia, malnutrition, impaired mental and physical development, besides threatening the children’s education and productivity, by the provision of mebendazole medicine free of charge.

District health officer Dr M Najeeb Durrani said the regular deworming would help children avoid worst effects of infection.

“The medicine is safe, even when given to uninfected children and therefore, the people should send their children to nearby government model colleges or private schools for being given free deworming medicine,” he said.

Dr Wasim Khawaja, a senior gastroenterologist of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, the capital’s premier government hospital, hailed the initiative strongly feeling that targeting children through school-based deworming was one of the best buys for development due to its impact on educational and economic outcomes coupled with the relatively low cost of delivery.

“Chronic worm infections resulting from poor sanitation and hygiene conditions tend to have the highest prevalence in children of school-going age, and have both widespread and debilitating consequences,” he said.