Nationwide deworming campaign under way

Around 9,000 trained teachers have been deployed across Afghanistan to distribute tablets to at least 6 million children in an effort to eradicate intestinal parasites, health authorities and United Nations agencies announced this week in the capital Kabul. The health and education ministries, with support from the World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO), launched the programme on Monday. According to Ebadullah Ebadi, a WFP information officer, the joint UN-Afghan government programme will be implemented in 8,800 educational institutions across the country, including primary, religious and informal schools, as well as orphanages. Children not attending school will also be targeted in the campaign. Along with treatment, children will receive education on basic hygiene. Intestinal parasites such as worms afflict a high percentage of Afghan children. Left untreated, worm infection cause a range of problems, including reduced growth, learning problems and illnesses such as dysentery and anemia. The condition can be easily eradicated with one 500-mg tablet of Mebendazol, according to health experts. "It is tragic that children in this country are suffering because of worms when they can be so easily treated," said Charles Vincent, head of the WFP in Afghanistan. "This campaign is complex, as it aims to reach millions of children, many of them in remote areas and many of them not even at school. But with ministries taking the lead and UN agencies pooling their expertise and resources, we can make a big difference," he said. According to the WFP, the massive deworming campaign in Afghanistan was prompted by a study carried out in 2003 which showed a prevalence of soil-transmitted worms among Afghanistan's primary school children, as well as shortcomings in their knowledge about hygiene. The numbers of children targeted for deworming has gone up from 4.5 million in 2004 to 6 million in 2005. The change is a combination of increased school enrolment and a revised estimate on the number of six- to 12-year-olds in Afghanistan.