The Health Ministry is set to launch a nationwide initiative to deworm children up to 19 years, despite questions in medical fraternity over the efficacy of mass deworming.
To be launched by the union health minister J P Nadda in Rajasthan on February 10, the scheme would target 14 crore children in 11 states and union territories -including Karnataka- in the first phase, while the second phase in August would cover 10 crore children in the rest of the country.
The medicine is meant to kill three types of stomach worms -round worms, whip worms and hookworms- transmitted from the soil.
Besides health improvements, additional secretary in the health ministry C K Mishra said deworming would also help improve school attendance for children.
“It will be a centrally funded major national effort. While only the government and aided schools and Anganwadi centre would be covered, states are being encouraged to rope in private schools,” Mishra said.
“It will be a centrally funded major national effort. While only the government and aided schools and Anganwadi centre would be covered, states are being encouraged to rope in private schools,” Mishra said on Thursday. “It’s a doable, low-hanging fruit we must pluck.”
The strategy involves providing free Albendazole tablets to children in schools and Anganwadis.
As most Indian states have moderate to high worm burden, the exercise would be carried out twice a year. It would be an annual event in low-burden states.
While the health ministry does not have prevalence data for most of the states, Bihar tops the list of high prevalence (67 per cent) among the states for which data is available. The prevalence rate for Rajasthan is only 21 per cent.
But the world's largest trial of Albendazole carried out in India on one million pre-school children for five years showed mass-scale deworming could neither reduce the child mortality nor help in weight gain, two significant indicators of health benefit.
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