BY DELISA THWALA
MBABANE– Well Done!
The Kingdom of Eswatini has surpassed the target set by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for deworming coverage and obtained 85 per cent during the third round of the Mass Medicine Administration (MMA) campaign.
The annual campaign was conducted from June 11 to June 27, 2019, and the WHO has released the report. This report comes shortly after the Coordinator of Deworming Exercise announced that about 191 schools and 19 Tinkhundla will form part of the deworming exercise by the Ministry of Health.
The deworming programme is expected to commence today, which is the opening of schools for the new academic year, and will run until January 31, 2023.
Mbongiseni Mathobela, the Coordinator of Deworming Exercise, said schools were selected after reports from healthcare workers from various facilities that there was an emergency to attend to these schools and Tinkhundla on deworming and dealing with Bilharzia.
Mathobela said the deworming programme was last conducted in 2019 before the start of COVID-19. He said since then, the main focus was on the pandemic. He said in normal cases, deworming was done every six months.
“We will be attending 191 schools and 19 Tinkhundla which are regarded as hotspots. We will be mainly focusing on children where will be giving them the deworming drugs,” said Mathobela.
He stated that the deworming exercise would be conducted by eight teams as of today and expressed hope that they would finish phase one on time.
The deworming coordinator stated many children had worms which negatively affected their health. He said it was in that regard that the Ministry of Health would start visiting those places and rolling out the medication.
He indicated that one of the disadvantages of not deworming a child was that once the worms had replicated in the system, they then started coming out from the nostrils or when defecating.
According to Mathobela, once the first phase was completed, the remaining schools across the country would be visited. He, however, revealed that during the deworming exercise, there were those children who might develop minor sicknesses but encouraged parents not to panic at that period.
“Some of the children will experience stomach pains, start vomiting or have diarrhea after giving them the deworming tablet. Parents must not panic when all these things happen,” he said.
According to the deworming coordinator, one of the contributing factors leading to certain inconveniences to some children would be that the worms could have been stuck in the small intestines, making it painful to get rid off
“Despite all these inconveniences, parents must continue giving their children Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS) just to ensure that they don’t lose a lot of water in their system,” he added.
On the issue of Bilharzia, Mathobela stated that the reason there was so much increase in the number of children suffering from this disease was eating unclean or unhealthy food and above all drinking dirty water.
“Children usually suffer from Bilharzia because they eat unwashed fruits and vegetables,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mathobela revealed that it was easy for children to get help after being discovered of suffering from Bilharzia as compared to grown-up people.
“A child suffering from Bilharzia usually has blood coming out during the urinating process,” he said.
He further pointed out that such a disease exhibited similar symptoms as Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), making it hard for grown-ups to get the required medication.
He said instead of getting the required medication, they ended up being treated for STIs. He said boiling water before drinking was one way of preventing getting Bilharzia. If worms are not removed, they can multiply and lay eggs in the intestines, leading to major damage to the body. Parasitic worms can also lead to malnourishment. It can also cause death.
