Question : NATIONAL DEWORMING DRIVE

(a) whether as per the study of the World Health Organisation (WHO), 241m children in the 1 to 14 years age group in India are at risk of parasitic worms if so, the details thereof;

(b) whether worms can cause anaemia, under nutrition, impairment of mental and physical development if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether the Government proposes to launch a national deworming initiative drive among all pre-school and school age children across the country;

(d) if so, the salient features of the aforesaid scheme;

(e) whether the aforesaid initiative will be launched in all districts, if so, the details thereof; and

(f) if not, the reasons therefor?

THE MINISTER OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE (SHRI JAGAT PRAKASH NADDA)

(a): Yes. As per World Health organization database (2012), it is estimated that 241 million children (68%) between the ages of 1 – 14 years in India are at risk of parasitic intestinal worms.

(b): Yes. Worms can cause anaemia, undernutrition and impairment of mental and physical development. Scientific evidences available clearly indicate that intestinal worms cause chronic intestinal blood loss that results in anaemia.

(c) & (d): Government of India has already launched National Deworming Day in 11 States/UT of India namely Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Dadra Nagar Haveli, Haryana, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Tripura.

The salient features of this initiative are as follows:-

# All pre-school and school-age children (enrolled and non-enrolled) between the ages of 1 – 19 years were administered deworming drug i.e. Albendazole tablets through the platform of schools and anganwadi centres in order to improve their overall health, nutritional status, access to education and quality of life.

# Anganwadi workers provided deworming drug to all pre-school children (1-5 years) and all out of school children (6-19 years) at the Anganwadi centres and School teachers provided deworming drug to all school enrolled children of 6-19 years age as per the National guidelines.

# In addition, Government has provided detailed guidelines for implementation of deworming inter- vention alongwith training, awareness generation and ensuring sufficient stock supply of deworming drug. There are specific guidelines / protocols for adverse event management as well.

(e) &(f): National Deworming Day was launched in 280 districts across 11 States/UT. With an aim to avoid duplication of intervention, Lymphatic Fila- riasis endemic districts in these 11 States were excluded as administration of Albendazole is part of Mass Drug Administration (MDA) regime under Lymphatic Filariasis program.