National School Deworming Day Form Download
To keep students in the pink of health, the Department of Education conducts a National School Deworming Day or NSDD every year. This is in accordance to DepEd Memo No. 80 s. 2005.
Here is the enclosure of the above-mentioned DepEd Memo:
GUIDELINES ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NATIONAL SCHOOL DEWORMING DAY
I. BACKGROUND
Soil-transmitted helminthiasis (STH) or intestinal worms can cause poor physical growth, poor intellectual development, and impaired cognitive functions in children. The consequences of chronic worm infections are widespread and devastating and can result to anemia and malnutrition not only on children but also in women of child bearing age. The highest intensity of infection has been documented among children aged 1 to 12 years old. Pre-school aged children (1-4 years old) suffer the greatest morbidity, while school-aged children (5-12 years old) harbor the greatest load of infection.
STH affects all 81 provinces in the country. Baseline data for STH in the Philippines was 65% among the 6 to 14 years old (UP-CPH, 2003). Another study jointly conducted by DOH, UNICEF and UP-CPH in the following year (2004) showed a prevalence rate of 66% among children aged 1 to 5 years old. Given the relatively high prevalence of STH infections among children in the country, the Integrated Helminth Control Program (IHCP) was established by the DOH and DepEd to implement deworming, together with WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene), behavior change and advocacy interventions.
WHO documents based on several studies have shown the detrimental effects of STH on the educational performance and school attendance of children but noted significant improvements in language and memory development following treatment. Therefore, mass deworming is being utilized by the government as one of the major strategies to reduce the burden of helminth infections among children aged 1 to 12 years old. The drug of choice for deworming is either Albendazole 400mg or Mebendazole 500mg, administered as single dose twice a year during the scheduled deworming months. Both drugs are known to have excellent safety records with only minimal and transient adverse reactions. These drugs are inexpensive and effective making regular deworming of Filipino children both affordable and sustainable.
Reduction of STH prevalence has been observed in the regions after several years of deworming based on the partial results of the National Parasite Survey (2013) done by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM). The preliminary results showed prevalence rates range from 12-18% today, a figure that is lower compared to the baseline data. Furthermore, pilot projects in Regions 6 and 11 (with Mass Drug Administration Coverage in 2014 in both regions of 89%) have proven that single day deworming is feasible and that it improves the efficiency of service delivery among the target population. These are some of the great examples showing the effectiveness of transmission control and reduction prevalence through deworming.
II. RATIONALE
Recognizing the importance of school health, the World Bank's Human Development Network, Education Department (HDNED) has developed the Systems Approach for Better Results (SABER) in 2012 to assess school health and school feeding policy frameworks. Here are some of the assessments in which the framework builds on, using some common references with:
a. Some of the most common health conditions of school age children affect their education. Malaria and worm infections can reduce enrolment and increase absenteeism;
b. Hunger and anemia can affect cognition and learning, thus exacerbating the problems of even those children who do go to school;
c. The pain associated with tooth decay, and the diarrhea and respiratory diseases associated with poor hygiene, may also affect both attendance and learning;
d. It is estimated that in low income countries, work infection can make each school age children lose some 3.75 IQ points.
e. Iron deficiency anemia cause schoolchildren to lose some 6 IQ points per child;
f. Hunger affects learning and attention: some 66 million schoolchildren go to school hungry; and
g. All these conditions translate into the equivalent of between 200 million and 500 million days of school lost to ill health in low income countries each year.
The NSDD represents a major effort at improving health care service delivery for all school-age children enrolled in public elementary schools, and will serve as a prelude to the 2016 Harmonized Schedule and Integrated Mass Drug Administration (HSIMDA) for the prevention, control and treatment of lymphatic filariasis, schistosomiasis and STH. It is anticipated that the NSDD strategy will have a major impact on the recording and reporting of IHCP accomplishments. Results and experiences of the NSDD will help in the implementation of HSIMDA next year. Other interventions, such as WASH, will continue to be advocated. Read more here.
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