Mass deworming campaign Wednesday continued in Karachi helping children to avoid malnutrition, anaemia, and a host of other illnesses from taking place, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
The move targets all school-age children (5 - 14-year-olds), including all, enrolled in classes 1-10 and out-of-school children aged 5 – 14 years.
For safe and accessible treatment, parents are advised and encouraged to cooperate with the trained health workers visiting private and public schools, madaris, and communities.
Reportedly, a student of class one, in a school of Ranchore line was given stomach deworming medicine a day ago. After a while, a seven to eight-inch worm came out of her stomach.
Stomach worms are increasing day by day among people in Pakistan, due to which they can suffer from many diseases, the most common of which are anemia and iron deficiency.
Pakistan’s weather provides a favorable environment for these worms in the stomach for example, eating raw cooked things, not washing vegetables and fruits, contaminated water, substandard food and drinks.
Deworming is essential for a child's physical and cognitive growth and ensures resistance to other infections and improved school performance. It will significantly contribute towards the government's top health priorities which are reducing malnutrition and anemia.
The WHO estimates that over 1.5 billion people, or nearly 1 in 4 of the world’s population, are infected globally with intestinal worms, also known as soil-transmitted helminths, with over 835 million children in need of treatment. These infections result from poor sanitation and hygiene conditions and have the highest prevalence in school-age children.
Reporter: Ajiz Jamali