The Lagos State Government has said it plans to conduct a free school-based mass deworming programme across 10 local government areas.
In a statement on Wednesday on its Facebook page, the state disclosed that it was conducting the exercise in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health and a non-governmental organisation, Evidence Action.
“The campaign aims to treat 1.4 million school-aged children between five and 14 years old, who are susceptible to parasitic worm infections in Lagos State,” the statement said.
Speaking at the flag-off of the exercise on Wednesday at CMS Primary School, Bariga, the Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, explained that the mass deworming exercise would hold in 10 soil-transmitted helminthiasis endemic LGAs, including Ajeromi-Ifelodun, Amuwo-Odofin, Apapa, Badagry, Epe, Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos Island, Lagos Mainland, Ojo and Shomolu.
Abayomi, who was represented by the Lagos State Neglected Tropical Diseases Coordinator, Modupe Dawodu, further disclosed that the exercise would run for five days, from Tuesday, November 21 to Saturday, November 25, 2023.
He added that children, aged five and 14 years, in schools and communities in the 10 LGAs would be dewormed and treated for soil-transmitted helminthiasis using Mebendazole Tablets (500mg) during the exercise.
The Commissioner noted that school-based deworming was an important evidence-based strategy to treat children at risk of parasitic worm infections, adding that teachers and community health workers had been trained to safely and effectively administer the medicines to the children.
