Ogun Flags Off School Based Deworming Exercise

In a bid to eliminate worm diseases in Ogun State, Ministry of Health has flagged off the annual school based deworming exercise today 15th of November 2022.

The exercise had in attendance of school pupils across Abeokuta North Area of the state. 

According to Dr Tomilola Coker, Honorable Commissioner of Health in Ogun State, The bi-annual programme is to ensure the school children are worm-free, because worms are harmful to the physical and mental development of the children by competing for nutrients from the food, Soil Transmitted Helminthes and Schistosomiasis are the two common culprits with prevalence in 14 and 18 LGAs respectively in Ogun State. 

However, she said the worm diseases occur in areas with poor hygiene, poor environmental sanitation, inadequate or lack of portable water and poor housing conditions. 

"Children living under such conditions come across these worms through their every day interaction with soil (Soil Transmitted Helminthes) and one of the worms acquired by wadding through water bodies (Schistosomiasis).      

The consequences of these worms are numerous. Some of them include abdominal pain, enlarged liver, shortage of blood, liver fibrosis or bladder cancer, malnutrition, poor mental and cognitive capability amongst school age children. Aside that, untreated infection with Schistosomahaematobium acquired through contact with contaminated fresh water bodies used by rural communities, particularly women and girls, for their daily chores and livelihood, could lead to a gynecological condition known as Female Genital Schistosomiasis (FGS). This condition can lead to untimely death over time." Said Coker.

Also, She said the statistics on Soil Transmitted Helminthes and Schistosomiasis are worrisome with approximately 1.5 billion people infected with Soil transmitted Helminths (STH) worldwide, making it the most common infection in the world. On its part, Schistosomiasis affects almost 240 million people worldwide with more than 700 million people live in endemic areas.    

While highlighting the solution to the worm diseases, Coker said, it is the responsibility of relevant stakeholders to protect the children from the harm caused by the worms. 

Meanwhile, Ogun State Government, with support from one of her development partners, “Evidence Action”, has continued to facilitate regular de-worming of school-age children between ages 5-14 years in both Primary and Secondary, public and private schools in endemic LGAs bi-annually for the past 6 years. The programme which has so far contributed significantly to the control and elimination of these diseases in the endemic LGAs. 

The Periodical School based de-worming involves Mass Drug Administration of Praziquantel and Mebendazole tablets to school-aged children (5-14 years) for the prevention and treatment of Schistosomiasis and Soil Transmitted Helminthiasis. The School-Based De-worming Exercise leverages the teacher-pupil relationship to encourage the intake of the de-worming medicines in schools. 

Last year, the State NTDs Control program through the school-based de-worming exercise was able to deworm Nine Hundred and Fifty-Six Thousand Seven Hundred and eleven (956, 711) School age children.

For this year’s round of treatment, our NTDs Control Programme has trained over Two Thousand five hundred (2500) teachers, one thousand and sixty-seven (1,067) community distributors and four hundred (400) health workers to treat about five hundred thousand (500,000) school aged children in four thousand two hundred and twenty-three (4,223) schools and about four hundred thousand (400,000) adults in our endemic communities in the State.

This exercise is planned take place in public and private schools across 13  LGAs Abeokuta North, Ewekoro, Ijebu East, Ijebu North, Ijebu North East, Ikenne, ImekoAfon, Odeda, Ogun Waterside, Remo North, Yewa North, Ipokia and Ijebu ode commencing today till 22nd November, 2022.

To ensure that residents of the state benefit maximally from the program, sensitization in Schools and Communities have commenced. We enjoin parents and caregivers to ensure their wards are de-wormed on any of these de-worming days from today.

She called on all media houses to support the exercise by providing continuous sensitization beyond the mass administration of medicine periods, also, she called on all school proprietors/proprietresses in private schools to regularly partner with state for successful implementation of School-based Deworming exercise.

She seized the opportunity to appreciate the Federal Ministry of Health, Ogun State Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), ever-supportive Partner- EVIDENCE ACTION, all stake holders present and citizens of Ogun State for their commitment in the fight against Neglected Tropical Diseases.