The wife of the Cross River State governor, Reverend Eyoanwan Otu has flagged off the 2023 School-based deworming exercise to safeguard children from harmful parasites. Mrs. Otu represented by the Senior Special Adviser Administration in the office of the wife of the governor, Dr. Comfort Oko emphasized the need for stakeholders in child care to collaborate against the spread of parasitic infections by providing a healthier environment for children.
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Otu described the school-based deworming programme as an initiative that ensures children have access to safe, effective and timely treatments towards a healthier and brighter future.
According to her, the programme was in line with the Cross River State government’s people first agenda due to its design aimed at building a society where every child would reach their full potential unhindered by effects of worm infestations.
She said, “deworming, though often overlooked, is a fundamental aspect of public health, particularly in the lives of our young ones. Infestations caused by intestinal parasites can lead to severe health issues, hinder growth, cognitive development and impede educational progress.”
Also speaking at the ceremony, the Cross River Commissioner for Health, Dr. Henry Ayuk, pointed out that the deworming programme would be the entry point to strengthen the school health system to reach children with other interventions.
Ayuk expressed appreciation to one of the international partners known as Evidence Action Nigeria for ensuring that children between the ages of 5 and 14, who are often neglected, have access to the services rendered within the school system.
The commissioner stated, “most of the health interventions are usually targeted at children under 5 years, teenagers, the elderly and pregnant women. But, the critical age between 5 and 14 is often neglected.”
He further explained that the emphasis on this year’s exercise was on eradicating worms transmitted from the soil, stating “apart from the medicines administered on the children, there would be health education about ways to protect children from worm infestation through the soil.”
Similarly, the Country Director, Evidence Action Nigeria, Mr. Temitope Ogunbi stated that more than one billion children worldwide were at risk of intestinal worm infections, “while in Nigeria, over 48 million school-age children require treatment for soil-transmitted helminthiases infection and 16.6 million school children require treatment for schistosomiasis.”
Ogunbi noted that this round of treatment in Cross River State was targeted at 623,828 school children, who would be given Mebendazole tablets for the preventive treatment of soil-transmitted helminthiases (STH) and 173,000 for Schistosomiasis treatment, noting “through our interventions across five Nigerian States of Cross River, Ogun, Oyo, Lagos and Rivers, we have treated more than 7 million children annually since we stated in 2016.We have also provided technical assistance to these states in the areas of planning, capacity building, logistics, data collection and reporting as well as community mobilization, monitoring and supervision of the school-based deworming programme,” Ogunbi hinted.
He explained to parents and guardians present at the flag off ceremony that parasites infestation could result to anemia, malnourishment, impaired mental and physical development, which ultimately affects children’s educational outcomes and income as adults.
