A comprehensive deworming initiative targeting more than 2 million school-age children, aged 5 to 14, is set to run from Monday, October 28 to Sunday, November 3, 2024. This exercise will reach up to 2.6 million children in both public and private schools across 100 districts in 15 regions.
Additionally, another 1.6 million individuals, including community-based children and adults in 57 districts across 11 regions, are also expected to benefit.
Dubbed the 2024 National School and Community Deworming Exercise, the program is a joint effort between the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and the Ghana Education Service (GES) aimed at boosting immunity and combating schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections in school-age children.
Announcing the initiative, GHS Director-General Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye explained that praziquantel (600 mg) and albendazole (400 mg) will be administered, provided by the World Health Organization (WHO). Health workers and specially trained teachers will closely supervise the administration. Dr. Kuma-Aboagye advised that children should eat before taking the medication to enhance absorption, suggesting it be given after the first school break or once children have eaten.
Schistosomiasis, a freshwater-borne parasitic infection, affects approximately 23.3% of Ghana’s population, with prevalence exceeding 50% in certain areas.
Soil-transmitted helminths, common in low-sanitation areas, can lead to abdominal pain, diarrhea, anemia, malnutrition, and developmental delays. Dr. Kuma-Aboagye emphasized the need to eliminate these conditions to improve public health, particularly noting that schistosomiasis can lead to female genital complications, such as infertility and recurrent urinary tract infections.
Public health experts are using the media to encourage community awareness and support for the deworming program. Dr. Franklin Asiedu-Bekoe, Director of the Public Health Division of the GHS, encouraged media engagement to amplify the program’s importance, while Theresa Oppong-Mensah, Director of GES’s School Health Education Programme, confirmed school readiness. Partnering with the Ghana School Feeding Programme, schools will provide adequate food and water on medication days.
USAID’s Act to End NTDs Programme and other agencies are also committed to eradicating schistosomiasis and STH infections in Ghana.
Credit:MyJoyOnline.
