The School-based Deworming Continues

Yesterday and today, the VPWA Deworm Ghana Team continued its mission to deworm children throughout Ghana by traveling to the villages of Nsawam on Wenesday and Adoagyiri on Thursday. Within each village, we conducted deworming exercises at local primary schools.

Why is VPWA visiting schools for the deworming campaign? Because research from leading institutions including the World Health Organization classify school-based deworming as one of the most efficient and cost-effective solutions to the global challenges facing developing countries. Children are at the greatest risk of experiencing worm infections, and since most children are in school, it is simple to round them up and administer medication. Schools also provide an excellent setting to follow-up on deworming activities with additional health education and monitoring of students' individual health improvements.

Furthermore, people living in villages like Nsawam and Adoagyiri receive immediate, as well as long-term benefits from a school-based deworming program. A few of these benefits are listed, below:

1) School absenteeism is reduced by 25%
2) Large cognitive improvements equivalent to a half year of schooling are produced
3) Literacy rates for dewormed children are increased
4) Higher income for dewormed children are earned as they grow to adults, averaging an increase in wages by 20%
5) Better health for the siblings, family members, and nearby friends of dewormed children is also experienced

For more information, see this link. http://www.who.int/wormcontrol/documents/en/at_a_glance.pdf

In order to make these benefits a reality for the people of Nsawam and Adoaguiri, VPWA administered deworming medication to 340 students in Nsawam and 184 students in Adoagyiri. The students, who ranged in age from five to sixteen years old, reported no side effects from taking the medication. In fact, in Nsawam, after all 340 students had taken their deworming medication, they sang several songs to the VPWA volunteers to express their appreciation for including St. John in the Deworm Ghana program. They put on an adorable concert for us!

To date, our team has dewormed 896 children throughout three different villages in the Akuapim South Municipal District of Ghana. We are aiming to reach the 1000 student milestone tomorrow, so wish us luck that we see great attendance from our next school!

Location:Pokuase, Ghana