800, 000 children to be dewormed as Minister flags-off deworming exercise
Emmanuel Alfred
The Honourable Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management and Social Development, (FMHADMSD), Hajiya Sadiya Farouq, on Tuesday, November 15, 2022, flagged off the 2022 School-Based Deworming for Children between ages 5 to 14 years in Cross River State.
At the flag-off ceremony in Government Primary School Anantigha in Calabar, Farouq said the exercise was an intergovernmental collaboration through a multi-sectoral partnership.
Represented by Mr Chogudo Sule, a Director in FMHADMSD, the Minister said to achieve their goal in the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSEP) they were partnering with the Ministry of Health to deworm children across the nation.
She also said while the Ministry of Health and its partners would be deploying their expertise to ensure the exercise was carried out, FMHADMSD would provide support in advocacy, mobilisation, sensitisation and training at state and LG levels.
“In an effort to achieve maximum nutritional benefits through the NHGSFP, government across all tiers has mobilised and deployed a nationwide deworming exercise.
“The exercise is with particular emphasis on the pupils benefiting from NHGSFP to access the free deworming medications together with the free meals,” she said.
Similarly, Dr Janet Ekpenyong, Director General of Cross River Primary Healthcare Development Agency (CRSPHCDA) said they were there to commence the exercise of ensuring that children in the state were dewormed.
“The exercise is with particular emphasis on the pupils benefiting from NHGSFP to access the free deworming medications together with the free meals,” she said.
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Similarly, Dr Janet Ekpenyong, Director General of Cross River Primary Healthcare Development Agency (CRSPHCDA) said they were there to commence the exercise of ensuring that children in the state were dewormed.
On her part, Mrs Veronica Mark, State Coordinator of Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) said the State was no longer doing a house-to-house treatment for worms after an assessment showed that it was no longer necessary.
Mark however added that to totally eradicate the disease, they will concentrate on schools to ensure that children are dewormed.
One of the parents said she was happy with the commencement of the programme in her children’s school adding that it showed that the government was thinking about them.
She called on all parents to avail their children of the opportunity to be dewormed stating that the drug was safe and for the good of their children.
