Patna, Oct. 10: The state’s effort to fight worms in children has been a roaring success with more than 17 million children in Bihar being provided de-worming medicines as part of a programme launched earlier this year.

The organisers regarded the programme as one of the largest de-worming programmes in schools. Rajesh Bhushan, the project director of Bihar Education Project Council, said: “A strong three-way partnership among the human resource development (HRD) and health departments and Deworm the World, along with elaborate advance planning and large-scale training of health personnel, led to the success of the programme.”

Nearly 1.4 lakh teachers across Bihar were trained to provide the medication and they were supported by 20,000 healthcare employees, trained specially for the programme.

Both enrolled and non-enrolled children between six and 14 years were treated through a network of over 67,000 government schools across the state.

Sanjay Kumar, the project director of Bihar State Health Society, said: “We have successfully implemented the first phase of deworming programmes and now we plan to start the second round in 2012.”

In Bihar, over 20 million children between six and 14 years are infected with parasitic worms, a chronic condition that not only harms their health but also limits their access to education.

Worms can cause anaemia, malnourishment and stall mental and physical development.

Children who suffer from worm infections experience morbidity. Children are either too sick or are too tired to concentrate at school.

In the first phase of the de-worming programmes, over 80 per cent of the target population were treated. The State Health Society, Bihar, (SHSB) purchased single-dose 400mg chewable Albendazole tablets that can be consumed by children who have not been infected with worms.

To make tablets more attractive for children, orange- and chocolate-flavoured Albendazoles were ordered by SHSB. The drugs were distributed block-wise from where it was distributed to the respective schools.

The de-worming programme was started phase-wise. In the first phase in February, five districts — Darbhanga, Madhubani, Samastipur, Bhagalpur and Banka — were chosen. Similarly, in the second and third phases, the other districts were covered. The programme was implemented across all 38 districts of the state.

right PILL

Total affected
Twenty million children, mostly aged between six and 14 years, are infected with parasitic worms

Total treated
17 million children

Phases
Three

First phase covered Darbhanga, Madhubani, Samastipur, Bhagalpur and Banka. The other districts were covered in the other two phases

Success rate
In the first phase itself more than 80 per cent
of the target population was covered