2 million Central Visayas children up for deworming

CEBU CITY – As many as 2 million children in Central Visayas are eligible for deworming scheduled for January and July in all public schools and in community health centers in the region.

Dr. Van Philip Baton, DOH regional medical officer, said at a new forum Tuesday that every January and June or July DOH goes on a nationwide deworming program to rid the country’s youth of parasites.

“As many as 80 percent of the country’s population is at risk from parasites, especially the children in rural mountains and coastal areas where households don’t have toilets and open defecation is almost the norm among children,” Baton said.

DOH’s deworming program has a two-pronged strategy to eliminate parasitism in Central Visayas – the school and community-based approaches targeting the children and youth for mass deworming because they are more prone to getting parasites, Baton added.

Community-based deworming targets children ages 1-4, 5-12 and 13-18 years, while school-based deworming is for children ages 5-12 and 13-15 years.

Baton said that in 2018 the regional DOH dewormed more than 824,500 children, or 77.3 percent of the target of more than 3.3 million children.

“Community-based deworming has always fallen short of accomplishments because villages are often too remote and not all parents bring their children to health centers for deworming,” Baton said.

He encouraged the public and private schools to have their children dewormed this year, adding that deworming tablets are free.

Baton also advised the public to have toilets at home and in schools with available water to clean the toilets and for washing hands.

“Hygiene and environmental sanitation and cleanliness are still the best protection against parasites,” he said. (Minerva BC Newman)