DOH to conduct mass deworming of students in July

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Health (DOH) is set to hold a month-long mass drug administration activities in July among all public and private school students aged one to 18 to combat schistosomiasis and other parasitic diseases.

In an ambush interview, Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial said they will once again conduct the program and this will include not only intestinal worms but schistosomiasis as well. 

“Before, we had separate activities for schistosomiasis, for intestinal worms and other parasitic diseases. But we decided to do it simultaneously. We are doing it every month of January and July. We are hoping to cover at least 80 percent of the targets,” she noted.

To achieve the goal, the DOH is closely coordinating with civil society groups and local government units to help in the information campaign and actual implementation.  

“We are working with all sectors to increase coverage. But the problem is that the public is not inclined to take medicines unless they are really ill or they have symptoms. Otherwise they ignore it,” she added.

Ubial said the DOH is working hard to raise the acceptance level for such preventive programs.

In its website, the World Health Organization describes schistosomiasis as an “acute and chronic parasitic disease caused by blood flukes (trematode worms) of the genous schistosoma.” More than 66.5 million people around the world were reportedly treated for the illness in 2015.

In the Philippines, it is estimated that some 12 million Filipinos are at risk of schistosomiasis while 6.8 million are already exposed to the so-called snail fever. It is endemic to 12 regions and 28 provinces in the country. 

Ubial gave assurance that the DOH has enough medicines to cover the target beneficiaries.  

She said the mass drug administration for schistosomiasis has been going on since 2004 and DOH is looking forward to the time when the disease is eliminated in the country. 

“Because we have lesser cases now compared before and because people are not inclined to take drugs unless they have symptoms, coverage seems to be going down. But we hope to improve this by working with all sectors,” Ubial added.