Mass deworming

Mass deworming
Nurse giving a deworming tablet to a child in Kakute, Uganda

Mass deworming, is one of the preventive chemotherapy tools,[1][2] used to treat large numbers of people, particularly children, for worm infections notably soil-transmitted helminthiasis, and schistosomiasis in areas with a high prevalence of these conditions.[3][4] It involves treating everyone – often all children who attend schools, using existing infrastructure to save money – rather than testing first and then only treating selectively. Serious side effects have not been reported when administering the medication to those without worms,[1][2] and testing for the infection is many times more expensive than treating it. Therefore, for the same amount of money, mass deworming can treat more people more cost-effectively than selective deworming.[5] Mass deworming is one example of mass drug administration.[3]

Mass deworming of children can be carried out by administering mebendazole and albendazole which are two types of anthelmintic drug.[5] The cost of providing one tablet every six to twelve months per child (typical doses) is relatively low.[6]

Soil-transmitted helminthiasis is the most prevalent neglected tropical disease.[7] Over 870 million children are at risk of parasitic worm infection.[8] Worm infections interfere with nutrient uptake, can lead to anemia, malnourishment and impaired mental and physical development, and pose a serious threat to children’s health, education, and productivity. Infected children are often too sick or tired to concentrate at school, or to attend at all.[9] In 2001, the World Health Assembly set a target for the World Health Organization (WHO) to treat 75% of school-aged children by 2010.[5]

Some non-governmental organizations support mass deworming, such as the Deworm the World Initiative (a project of the non-governmental organization Evidence Action), the END Fund (founded by Legatum Foundation in 2012),[10] the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative, and Sightsavers. Because of the low cost of deworming children, large-scale implementation may provide wider benefits to society.[11]

  1. ^ a b WHO (2006). Preventive chemotherapy in human helminthiasis: coordinated use of anthelminthic drugs in control interventions: a manual for health professionals and programme managers (PDF). WHO Press, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. pp. 1–61. ISBN 9241547103.
  2. ^ a b Albonico M, Allen H, Chitsulo L, Engels D, Gabrielli AF, Savioli L (March 2008). "Controlling soil-transmitted helminthiasis in pre-school-age children through preventive chemotherapy". PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. 2 (3): e126. doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0000126. PMC 2274864. PMID 18365031.
  3. ^ a b Taylor-Robinson DC, Maayan N, Donegan S, Chaplin M, Garner P (September 2019). "Public health deworming programmes for soil-transmitted helminths in children living in endemic areas". The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 9 (9): CD000371. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD000371.pub7. PMC 6737502. PMID 31508807.
  4. ^ Gabrielli AF, Montresor A, Chitsulo L, Engels D, Savioli L (December 2011). "Preventive chemotherapy in human helminthiasis: theoretical and operational aspects". Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 105 (12): 683–93. doi:10.1016/j.trstmh.2011.08.013. PMC 5576527. PMID 22040463.
  5. ^ a b c Helminth control in school-age children: a guide for managers of control programmes (PDF) (2nd ed.). World Health Organization. 2011. pp. vii. ISBN 9789241548267.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference EAcost was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Lo, Nathan C.; Heft-Neal, Sam; Coulibaly, Jean T.; Leonard, Leslie; Bendavid, Eran; Addiss, David G. (2019-11-01). "State of deworming coverage and equity in low-income and middle-income countries using household health surveys: a spatiotemporal cross-sectional study". The Lancet Global Health. 7 (11): e1511–e1520. doi:10.1016/S2214-109X(19)30413-9. ISSN 2214-109X. PMC 7024997. PMID 31558383.
  8. ^ "Soil Transmitted Helminths". WHO. Archived from the original on August 20, 2012. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
  9. ^ Baird S, Hicks JH, Kremer M, Miguel E (November 2016). "Worms at Work: Long-run Impacts of a Child Health Investment" (PDF). The Quarterly Journal of Economics. 131 (4): 1637–1680. doi:10.1093/qje/qjw022. PMC 5094294. PMID 27818531. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-01-16. Retrieved 2015-07-28.
  10. ^ "Philanthropy: the search for the best way to give". Financial Times. April 2017. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  11. ^ "GiveWell Top Charities". Givewell. 2018. Retrieved 26 February 2019.