State launches national deworming campaign, targets over 6 million learners

The Ministry of Health has launched the national school deworming campaign aimed at deworming more than 6 million school-going children aged between the ages of 2 to 14 years old.

The campaign which was launched in Kirinyaga has seen 28,000  primary and secondary school teachers from 16 counties trained on how to administer the deworming tablets for proper effectiveness and deal with the probable side effects.

Ministry of Health School Health Director Dr Stephen Kaliti said that the ministry has preferred to use the school infrastructure as a medium of administering the deworming tablets to reach more children.

"Statistics show that the prevalence of worms among children has gone down from 35 to 5 per cent of the children," Kaliti said. 

Katili said the current campaign is aimed at lowering the prevalence from the current 5 per cent to less than one per cent.

Ministry of Health Primary School Education head Stephen Mbaroko noted that the deworming exercise will ensure the pupils get rid of the worms which contribute to diseases thus keeping them away from the schools.

"With the success of the exercise pupils will remain in schools and are able to concentrate and thus boosting their performances," Mbaroko said. 

He noted that the training for the teachers will also include hygiene and cleanliness both at school and at home.

He said this will ensure the pupils stay, learn and sleep in a clean environment to keep away the worms.