Driven by the mission to fight intestinal worms, especially among the children of school age, a total of 912,854 school children, aged between 5 and 14 years, have been selected from 14 Local Government Areas of Cross River State for another round of deworming exercise.
The deworming programme organised by the Cross River State Government is in collaboration with a Non-Governmental Organization called Evidence Action, the Executor.
Speaking on the exercise, Toochi Ohaji, Senior Manager of Evidence Action, told journalists in Calabar, Cross River State Capital, that the programme was successful last year as they were able to deworm 847,455 school children, noting the success recorded last year prompted a slight increase this year.
He said their target is to deworm six million school-aged children every year as the intestinal worm-related diseases are becoming prevalent.
“Intestinal worms, or technically called Schistosomiasis and Soil Transmitted Helminthiasis, are most prevalent in unhealthy environments where children in such neighborhoods are easily affected.
“We encourage Hygiene practices and sanitation to help reduce the prevalence of worm infections in our children. Five to 14 year olds are selected because worm infections are found in very poor environments where they become vulnerable”, he said.
He noted that the Federal Ministry of Health had already allocated specified medicines for the deworming programme in Cross River State, adding that they are free and easy to handle.
Toochi said the intestinal worm infection is part of the neglected tropical diseases, NTD. According to Toochi, intestinal worm infection is under-reported by the media.
Pastor Veronica Mark, NTD Coordinator in the Cross River State Ministry of Health, appealed to the media to help increase reportage about tropical diseases, especially worm infestation.
