The Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare M.R.K. Panneerselvam launched the National Deworming Day Campaign on Friday in the Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu. The deworming campaign would cover over 9.25 lakh women and children, excluding pregnant and lactating women in the Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu.

The deworming campaign aimed at improving the children’s health and raising awareness about the importance of being dewormed.

According to the reports, the deworming campaign in the Cuddalore district would cover 7,01,617 children in the age group of 1-19 years. In addition, the campaign will also concentrate on 2,23,660 women, in the age group of 20-30 years. In total, 9,25,277 people will receive the Albendazole tablets. The Albendazole tablets are an FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approved medication that is used for the treatment of a variety of parasitic worm infections. The Albendazole tablets were distributed across the district through schools, colleges, Anganwadi centers, health sub-centers, and primary health centers.

The minister also informed, "Those who were unable to receive the tablets on Friday can get them on February 16 when a special camp will held".

Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian launched the National Deworming Day program in August 2023. The program covered 2.15 crore children in the age group of 1-19 years, in addition to 54.67 lakh women in the age group of 20-30 years who were given the Albendazole tablets.

Every year on February 10, the Government of India observes National Deworming Day, to make every child in the country worm-free. The day is geared toward improving the children's health so that their education and lifestyle are not affected by worm infections. On this day the government of India issues guidelines to the states and union territories.

The National Deworming Day was first implemented in the year 2015 by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare under the Government of India. In that year around 8.9 crore children were given the deworming medication.

Globally, around 836 million children, and in India 241 million children are under the threat of contracting infections due to parasitic worms. This problem is overlooked by the parents because of the lack of awareness about this problem. So the Indian government took the initiative to unravel the growing health concern.

 (Input from various sources)

(Rehash/Lavanya Beeraboina/MSM)