P2M set for student deworming program

A mass treatment of intestinal helminthiasis for an estimated 100,000 public school pupils in Cebu City will be conducted next month as Mayor Tomas Osmeña approved the release of P2.190 million to implement the program.

Cebu City Commission for the Welfare and Protection of Children chairperson Margot Osmeña said the program will be implemented by the commission under the auspices of the United Nations Indigent Children's Educational Fund country program for children.

The project is a two-year implementation of mass treatment using chewable mebendazole (Antiox) 500 mg/tablet. The deworming tablets which will be purchased by the project team through funds provided by the city government, will be administered by schoolteachers in single dose every six months or two doses per year.

The first dose will be given by third week of July. The same children will be given the second dose on December. The third and forth doses will be administered on same months next year.

Beneficiaries of this project shall include all 10 school districts covering 66 public elementary schools in the city.

Studies show that intestinal helminthiasis remains as a major public health concern in the Philippines. Soil transmitted helminthiasis or STH, the most common intestinal helminthiasis, ranks first among all communicable and non-communicable diseases in the school-age population of developing countries worldwide.

In a 2004 nationwide study conducted by UNICEF, University of the Philippines-College of Medicine and the Department of Health, it revealed that 66 percent of pre-school children were infected with common intestinal helminthes. Children ages 2-4 years old as well as elementary school children, ages 5-14 years old, are at high risk for STH infections due to poor personal hygiene, frequent outdoor exposures and high risk behavior.

Dr. Vicente Belizario, Jr., deputy director and professor of parasitology and public health at the National Institute of Health-UP College of Medicine, said their group will provide technical assistance in the conduct of the pilot project.

He said STH infections are important and recognized cause of school absenteeism and poor academic performance. These infections may further result to complications such as malnutrition, anemia, growth retardation, delayed motor activity and poor mental development. - Garry B. Lao