An estimated 31 crore children (1-19 years) will be covered under the second round of Union Health Ministry’s National Deworming Programme on Thursday followed by mop-up activities on August 17, aimed at reducing worm infestation that hampers the growth of kids.
The children will be administered the deworming tablet ‘Albendazole’ to fight infections due to Soil Transmitted Helminths (STH) or worms that causes morbidity by adversely affecting nutritional status; impairing cognitive processes and causing complications that may require surgical intervention.
“This is one of the largest public health programs reaching large number of children during a short period. The first NDD round of 2017 implemented in February covered 26 crore children with a coverage of 89 per cent.
“A total of 7.8 crore children are targeted in private schools and 3.5 crore out of school children will be covered in this program through Anganwadi workers and ASHAs,” said Dr Ajay Khera, deputy commissioner for the Child Health Programme at the Ministry.
The NDD program was launched in 2015 as WHO estimates that 220 million children below 14 years of age are at risk of STH infections in India. National Deworming Day is organised twice in a year covering all the children from 1-19 years of age except the States of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh where deworming is carried out once in a year.
As deworming may have a few side effects and some children, especially those with high worm infections, might experience nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and fatigue, comprehensive adverse event protocols have been put in place, Khera added.