Context:

The National Deworming Day is celebrated on 10th February every year across the country.

Deworming for a Healthier Tomorrow: The National Deworming Day Initiative

• About: The National Deworming Day is an initiative to deworm all pre – schools and school age children (enrolled and unenrolled) between the ages of 1 and 19 years.
  • Under this programme, children across the country will be provided medicines to remove worms from their body system.
• Nodal Ministry: The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is the nodal ministry to implement this programme.
• Origin: The National Deworming Day started in February 2015 in 277 districts across 11 states and union territories (UTs) of Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, and Tripura.
  • In 2016, the initiative was expanded to all districts across the nation. Since 2016, the day has been celebrated on 10th August as well.
• Objective: Through the National Deworming Day, the government seeks to optimize overall health, nutritional status, access to education, and life quality of young children.
• Activities: The participants are students of government and government aided schools and anganwadi centres.
  • As part of the programme, Albendazole tablets (a deworming medicine) is given to youngsters on this day.
  • The next day is the Mop Up Day (MUD), with the goal of deworming youngsters who missed the dose on the National Deworming Day.

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Nurturing Health: Impact of National Deworming Day

• Reduce Malnutrition: Intestinal worms are one of the main reasons for malnutrition among children. Deworming can help tackle issues related to malnutrition.
• Physical and Mental Growth: Essential nutrients such as vitamin A and iron are lost due to worm infestation. The programme seeks to arrest this loss of physical and mental capacity.
• Awareness on Health: The National Deworming Day is an occasion for spreading awareness on the importance of staying healthy through eradication of Soil Transmitted Helminths (STH).

What is Deworming? 

• About: The process of eliminating intestinal parasites, such as worms, using medication is termed as deworming.
  • The process of deworming must be carried out two times a year, or every six months, beginning at the age of two years.
• Importance: Deworming through anthelmintic medicines can drastically reduce the burden of worms caused by soil-transmitted helminth infections.

Battling the Underground Threat: Understanding, Preventing, and Treating Soil-Transmitted Helminths (STH)

• About: Soil Transmitted Helminths (STH) or intestinal worms, are parasites transmitted from soil. They are a significant public health concern for India. Varieties include roundworm, whipworm, and hookworm.
• Transmission: The worm infections occur in children due to lack of personal hygiene, uncooked and contaminated food, and excess sweets and junk food consumption. 
  • The adult worms, which live in the intestines, produce thousands of eggs each day. These eggs are passed in the faeces of an infected person.
  • The eggs remain in soil and enter the human body through vegetables and water sources. They can also enter into children’s bodies from soil.
  • In some cases, intestinal worms can enter the human body by eating raw or uncooked meat.

• Symptoms of Intestinal Worms:

• • Digestive symptoms such as abdominal pain, diarrhoea, gas, bloating, vomiting etc.
  • Loss of weight, fatigue, nausea, nutrient deficiency, decline in immunity etc.
  • Formation of rash or itching around the rectum or vulva, passing of worms during bowel movement.

• Diagnosing Infection:

• • Stool/faecal test to identify parasites.
  • Colonoscopy in case samples do not show the presence of parasites due to diarrhoea.
  • Tape test to capture parasite samples and then examining the tape under a microscope to identify eggs.
  • Antibody tests to identify antibodies the body produces when infected with a parasite.
  • Imaging tests using X-rays, computed tomography (CT), or MRI.

• Effects of Intestinal Worms:

• • Stunted Growth: It has been proved that intestinal worms consume resources needed for growth of a human, leading to stunted development.
  • Blood Loss: One of the major symptoms of intestinal worms is anaemia, which is characterised by low red blood cells.
  • Energy Loss: Iron deficiency and malnutrition can lead to loss of energy in growing population.
  • Cysts and Tumours: Intestinal worms migrating to other tissues may harm organs and tissues, causing cysts, tumours and lumps.

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• Prevention from Intestinal Worms:

• • Eradicate Outdoor Defecation: Maintaining sanitation in the surroundings by completely eradicating outdoor defecation.
  • Consume Cooked Food: All food items must be consumed only after cooking properly or washing properly.
  • Filtered Water: Water from open sources such as lakes, ponds, rivers etc must be consumed only after filtering.
  • Maintain Hygiene: There is a need to maintain hygiene by washing hands and legs after coming in contact with soil.
• Infection Rate: Globally, 24% of the population is infected with soil-transmitted helminths worms. The number of children in India who are at a risk of parasitic intestinal worms is around 241 million of age groups 1 and 14 years.

• Treatment:

• • Tapeworm infections are treated with an oral medication, such as praziquantel (Biltricide).
  • A roundworm infection is treated through mebendazole (Vermox, Emverm) and albendazole (Albenza).

Conclusion

• The National Deworming Day is key to ensuring Anaemia reduction. The programme plays a major role in supplementing efforts under POSHAN Abhiyan.
• The National Deworming Day can address long-term health issues in Children and also reduce negative effects on education.