New Delhi – Over 22 crore children between 1 and 19 years have received deworming treatment during the National Deworming Day (NDD) campaign, in 2019, a government release said.
Launched in 2015 by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare the initiative seeks to make every child in India, free of worms. More than 836 million children are at risk of parasitic worm infections, worldwide.
The campaign was launched in 277 districts in 11 states and union territories (UTs) – including Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, and Tripura – under the National Health Mission.
A single dose of the medicine is administered through schools and anganwadi centres.
NDD is being implemented through the combined efforts of Department of School Education and Literacy under Ministry of Human Resource and Development, Ministry of Women and Child Development and Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation to ensure maximum coverage.
Since 2016, the programme has been scaled up to cover all the districts across the country.
World Health Organisation (WHO) has been providing logistical support to the government by providing deworming drugs. Though, this only fulfills a partial demand towards the implementation of the programme.
A National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), NDD suggests that the programme is being implemented biannually in all the states and UTs barring Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, where it is conducted annually.
