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Sudan : 10,000 Children Receive Deworming Tablets
FrontLines - July 2009
By Alexandra Pratt
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This boy hesitates before taking tablets that will free him from the scourge of worms. His cup will be filled with porridge after he has taken his vitamin A and deworming tablets.
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Many Sudanese children fall sick from worms and lack of vitamin A. This is caused in part by contaminated water and poor hygiene.
Now USAID is supplying vitamin A and deworming tablets to more than 10,000 children in Sudan. The aid will help to eliminate parasites, improve health, and reduce student absenteeism and classroom lethargy.
The Agency’s Health, Education and Reconciliation (HEAR) Sudan program distributed vitamin A and deworming supplements to children in Abyei and Kauda. The supplements, donated by the World Health Organization (WHO), are some of the simplest and cheapest ways to improve children’s health and academic performance.
Vitamin A deficiency during childhood is a major contributor to childhood illness, blindness, and mortality, according to the WHO. The vitamin is essential for the functioning of the immune system and children who lack it are at increased risk of dying from infectious diseases such as measles, diarrhea, and malaria. Vitamin A supplements can reduce child mortality by 23 percent, WHO officials said.
Elrasheed Abdalla, a former HEAREAREAR Sudan senior health advisor, distributes vitamin A and deworming tablets at the Louis Nyiok School in Abyei. These inexpensive and easily administered supplements are key to preventing damage to eyesight and chronic stomach ailments.
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“As a result of treating school-age children, we can reduce the burden of disease due to intestinal worm infection by as much as 70 percent in the community as a whole,” said John Boveington, former chief of party for HEAR Sudan.
HEAR Sudan is funded by USAID and carried out by Creative Associates International and the Education Development Center in Abyei, Southern Kordofan (Kauda), and Blue Nile (Kurmuk), the north-south border regions known as the Three Areas.
Vitamin A deficiency usually coincides with worm infection, so deworming medicines are distributed along with vitamin supplements. Worm infections cause a loss of micronutrients and can impede the absorption of vitamin A, contributing to retarded growth, anemia, and low cognitive performance in school.
HEAR Sudan also trains teachers and supports parent-teacher associations to ensure children have a safe learning environment.
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Alexandra Pratt is with Creative Associates.
Sudanese child receives vitamin A and deworming supplements from USAID’s HEAR Sudan project at the Louis Nyiok School in Abyei, Sudan. The supplements, supplied by the World Health Organization, are one of the simplest and most cost-effective ways to prevent childhood illnesses prevalent in the developing world and, as a corollary, to improve academic performance.
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Children eat a helping of porridge after receiving vitamin A and deworming tablets. The porridge not only provides nutrition, but also serves to coat empty stomachs so that the tablets do not cause any aches.
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