EDITORIAL - A common ailment

You see them in impoverished communities, or begging for alms in the streets of Manila: children with bloated bellies, emaciated by malnutrition, their growth stunted. The big bellies are a symptom of a common health problem afflicting children living in unsanitary conditions: intestinal worms.

The head researcher for a deworming program implemented by the Department of Health from 2004 to 2009 estimates that about 8.8 million Filipino children are suffering from intestinal worms. Vicente Belizario of the University of the Philippines-National Institute for Health linked the infection to poverty. The parasites cause chronic malnutrition and stunted growth, and have been linked to poor performance in school.

Like many common childhood illnesses, worm infection can be prevented through proper hygiene, starting with regular hand-washing. The parasites can also be eradicated through deworming, which reduced the prevalence of the affliction to 40 percent of children in 2009 from 72 percent when the program was launched in 2004 in elementary schools.

The program, however, still has not reached 8.8 million children. Belizario says the prevalence rate can be reduced if teachers are properly trained to administer deworming drugs. This can be combined with an information campaign to persuade parents to have their children dewormed. The target, as recommended by the World Health Organization, is to bring down the prevalence rate to 20 percent.

That is not an impossible goal. Apart from training teachers in administering drugs for deworming, the government can do more by ensuring that all public schools have adequate toilets with clean running water and soap for hand-washing, and other sanitation facilities. Good health starts with proper hygiene and basic sanitation. Health is wealth, and even the underprivileged can enjoy a healthy environment.