Mass Deworming of School-Aged Children: A Pharmacological Review

Abstract

Health is the 4th point in the cardinal political program of the present administration and the effectiveness of mass deworming exercise based in schools has been advocated by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the best education and intervention program for helminthiasis. It is thus, recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) and costs little per child. Helminthic infection is a global phenomenon affecting over two billion people. In regions of rural poverty in the tropics where prevalence is greatest, simultaneous infection with more than one type of helminth is common. The focus of the global health research has been on the 3 major tropical diseases that is malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis; hence little attention was paid to the morbidity and mortality of some tropical diseases like helminthasis which poses a greater risk to our children, as it makes cognitive ability low and the individual very vulnerable to other infection, as well as causing periodic episodes of anemia. This program, if well implemented will be of immense help in achieving the health component of the millennium development goals.

Key words: Deworming Chemotherapy Epidemiology Helminthiasis.