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The federal government in collaboration with the Kwara state government on Thursday flagged off deworming programme for school-age children in Kwara.
The programme championed by the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, under the national home-grown school feeding programme will covered 11 local government areas in the state.
Speaking at the venue of the flag-off ceremony at the Queen Elizabeth secondary school, Ilorin, the national coordinator of the national tropical diseases (NTD) unit of the federal ministry of Health, Dr Nse Akpan, said that 63 wards in 11 local government areas are classified as highly and moderately endemic with schistosomiasis would be treated with free, safe and effective praziquantel PZQ 600mg.
Represented by Adewale Ayodeji, the NTD national coordinator said that the deworming drug was donated to the state through the federal ministry of Health, adding that it would be administered using a calibrated dose pole on the children.
Dr Akpan disclosed that over 804,219 school-age children and over 184,289 adults are at risk of Schistosomiasis, adding that the disease is endemic in 15 local government areas of Kwara state.
“These figures shows a significant number of at risk population in North-Central zone and Nigeria at large if left untreated with the aid of WHO and FMoH treatment guideline.
Also speaking, the minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, said that the nationwide deworming exercise, with particular emphasis on those pupils benefiting from the national home-grown school-feeding programme (NHGSP) aimed to give school-age children access to free deworming medications together with the free meals.
Represented by Mrs. Idiatu Ibiyeye, the minister said that the school health intervention is of much relevance to achieving the goals of the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme, which she added was one of the cluster programmes of the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) under the supervision of the ministry.
“We may recall that the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP) is one of the clusters under the Federal Government National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) aimed at providing one free nutritious meal a day to pupils of primary 1-3 in public primary schools around the nation. Globally, School Feeding Programs are increasingly being recognized as critical social protection interventions since they benefit vulnerable groups including children, their families, and communities.
“In Nigeria, the NHGSFP is a safety net for over 9 million children across thousands of communities and a lifeline for income generation for thousands of people.
“The key objectives of the NHGSFP are to increase school enrolment, attendance and retention, improve the nutritional and health status of school children, stimulate local agricultural production and local economy, provide empowerment opportunities for the cooks, thereby contributing to the promotion of food security for vulnerable households in Nigeria.
“In addition, the NHGSFP seeks to provide at least 30% of a child’s daily nutrient requirement which can be achieved through these local and nutritious meals, in conjunction with periodic deworming, which can boost the immunity of children, assist their bodies to fight of infections and generally improve their nutrition uptake.
In her speech, the state coordinator of National Social Investment Programme (NSIP), Hajia Bashirat Abdulrazaq, said schistosomiasis disease remained a major cause of mortality and morbidity, adding that it is characterized by passage of blood in urine and ultimately affect physical fitness and intractable chronic infections which lead to cognitive loss.
“Schistosomiasis is among the group of diseases referred to as neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDS). Although the disease is preventable, it continues to have a high burden in 16 LGAs of the state due to poor hygiene practices. Control of this disease can be achieved by environmental management, health education and the use of praziquantel”, she said.
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