Children in schools and schools in 44 districts are to start taking pesticides on January 22. ৪৪ জেলায় ২২ জানুয়ারি স্কুলে-স্কুলে শিশুদের কৃমিনাশক সেবন শুরু. Students between the ages of 12 and 16 years, street children, and fallen children will start consuming pesticides in schools and schools in 44 districts and eight city corporations of the country from Sunday( January 22). This program will continue till January 31. The 27th National Worm Control Week will be observed in these districts and city corporations from January 22 to 31. But due to the non-arrival of medicines, the remaining 20 districts and three city corporations are not observing deworming week.
This information was given at a press conference held in the conference room of the Department of Health on Tuesday at noon. All children aged between 5 and 11 years and 12 to 16 years of all primary-level educational institutions of 44 districts and eight city corporations will be given one dose of deworming medicines.
After the press conference, a senior official of the Disease Control Branch of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said that it is not possible to feed medicines to children in all the districts of the country due to a lack of adequate deworming medicines. Children of the remaining 20 districts and three city corporations will be fed worm medicines in March when the medicines arrive in the country from abroad.
Assistant Director of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) and Manager of Filariasis Eradication, Worm Control, and Khuda Doctor Program and Kala-Azar Eradication Program MM Akhteruzzaman presented the keynote speech at the press conference. He said that in 2005, the presence of worms was found in the feces of 80 percent of the children in the country. In that year, the implementation of the worm control program started in the country. It was first implemented in three districts and in phases across the country. National Worm Control Week is being observed as part of the program. Currently, less than 8 percent of children have worm problems.
About 1,20,000 primary-level educational institutions (government-private, formal, non-formal schools, madrasas, mastabas) and about 33,000 secondary-level (schools and madrasas) across the country are covered under the program. Between January 22 and 31, about 26 million children will be fed worm medicines. Officials of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) have advised sending the children to educational institutions on a full stomach or bringing them with them.
It is learned that from January 7 to 12, under the Filariasis Eradication Program and Worm Control Program, the 27th Worm Control Week was to be observed and the students in the school were supposed to take deworming. But the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) could not send pesticides to 20 districts and three city corporations due to delays in shipments.
Meanwhile, the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education has given several instructions to the Upazila Secondary Education Officer, Assistant Education Officer, and Head Teachers to observe the deworming and worm control week for children aged 12 to 16 years in schools. According to the directive sent by the Department, the Upazila Secondary Education Officers will instruct the headmasters to observe the 27th National Worm Control Week from January 22 to January 31 in a fair manner. Assistant Upazila Secondary Education Officers will closely supervise the proper implementation of the national worm control program in the schools of their respective clusters. All the officials of the district and upazila will have to closely monitor this activity in the schools on the basis of divine choice. It should be kept in mind that the teachers participate in both activities spontaneously. All the assistant teachers of the school will have to be involved in this program.
It has also been said in the directive that all secondary schools and street children, working children, and children of 12-16 years of age who have fallen in the catchment area of each secondary school should be brought to the school and taken deworming tablets. The headmasters will give necessary advice and guidance to all the students regarding the use of medicines in the daily assembly on the day before the worm control activities. Deworming tablets cannot be taken on an empty stomach. Sick children should be prevented from taking medicines. Information about the use of deworming tablets for children should be provided to the local upazila health officer and the matter should be coordinated with the upazila health officer.