93,113 school students to get deworming pills in Rajshahi city

Picture: BSS

Rajshahi City Corporation (RCC) will feed deworming tablets to 93,113 students aged between five and 16 years in the city.

Along with primary and secondary level schools, all madrasas, mosque-based schools and orphanages will be brought under the deworming tablet feeding programme.

The campaign will be held as part of the National Worm Control Week- 2021 scheduled to be observed from October 30 to November 5.

RCC officials disclosed the information while addressing a central advocacy meeting with all stakeholders in its conference hall here today.

The main objective of the meeting was to disseminate ideas among the stakeholders and other policy-makers so that they could play a vital role in creating awareness on controlling the worm.

RCC Chief Health Officer Dr AFM Anjuman Ara Begum addressed the meeting as focal person, while Executive Magistrate Imranul Haque welcomed the participants.

With RCC Ward Councilor Nuruzzaman Tuku in the chair, the meeting was addressed, among others, by District Education Officer Nasir Uddin, District Primary Education Officer Abdus Salam, Thana Secondary Education Officers Jahid Hassan and Mijanur Rahman and Thana Education Officer Shamim Ahmed and RCC Health Officer Ummul Khayer Fatima.

The discussants unanimously underlined the need for creating widespread health awareness among the school-going children for controlling many communicable diseases.

Terming the schoolboys and girls as the most vulnerable to worm infection, they unequivocally called for making them aware about health hygiene and using sanitary latrine with washing hand properly before taking every meal.

Dr Anjuman Begum said if the large number of students could be prevented from the worm-infection, they would be protected from different intestinal diseases easily.

She pointed out that the teachers have a vital role in this regard and said knowledge, attitude and practice could help prevent 80 percent of both the communicable and non-communicable diseases along with malnutrition.

Dr Begum also said due attention should be given to create mass awareness through using both the print and electronic media and other state-level machinery to make this idea accessible to every section of the society.

She told the meeting that some prolonged non-communicable diseases like diabetes, cardiac ailments, high blood pressure, stroke and respiratory inflammation are responsible for 60 per cent of the total death.

But the death rate could be reduced to a greater extent after following some health related rules and regulations strictly, she added.

Source: BSS