Indore (Madhya Pradesh): National De-worming Day will be held in Indore district and the entire state, on September 10. District collector Asheesh Singh has directed officials of the health department, women and child development department, school education department and others to make preparations for the same.
On National De-worming Day, children in the age group of 1 to 19 years will be given albendazole tablets. The collector said that all the departments should work in coordination and make this campaign a success.
It was told in the meeting that anthelmintic tablets are completely safe for consumption and would be distributed free-of-cost. It was told that on this day, all children of 1 to 19 years who are enrolled in government, non-government-aided schools, tribal ashram schools, private schools, private-aided schools, madrasas, Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs), Navodaya and Anganwadi, as well as school dropouts, can avail the benefit of the programme.
The effect of running this campaign continuously has proven that the rate of worm infection in children has come down, from 12% to 5%. Children who are not able to take pills on September 10 will be given pills in the mop-up round on September 13.
For Indore district, over 12, 20,557 children would be covered under this campaign. Officials said that children who play in the field without wearing shoes, eat food without washing their hands, do not use the toilet, do not wash their hands after defecation and consume contaminated fruits and vegetables are likely to be infected with worms.
