Ministry of Health plans deworming campaign

Ministry of Health plans deworming campaign

JAKARTA (JP): The government will launch a massive deworming
campaign this year, targeting elementary school children,
Minister of Health Sujudi said yesterday.

Sujudi told a hearing with the House of Representatives that
the first phase of the campaign will target around 18,000
elementary schools outside Java and Bali.

The campaign includes a program to improve the nutrition of
children by giving them nutritional supplements and also
administering medication for worm-related diseases.

Nutrition is one of the most important factors affecting the
quality of human resources, he told a hearing with Commission
VIII of the House.

He stressed the importance of good nutrition for a child's
growth.

"Unfortunately, for various reasons, such as low incomes,
unhygienic conditions in some neighborhoods, and the habit of
skipping breakfast, many children suffer from malnutrition," he
said.

A government survey of 20,000 elementary schools in the
country conducted in 1994/1995 found that the physical growth of
about 50 percent of the students surveyed had been stunted,
largely because of worms.

Sujudi said the government has allocated Rp 62.8 billion
($27.3 million) for the purchase of additional food, Rp 1.03
billion for medication against worm-related diseases, and Rp 3.58
billion for the dissemination campaign.

"The program will be run three times a week for nine
consecutive months," he said.

Sujudi said that the program depends on the support of the
public. School administrators, working with the local Family
Welfare Movement, will supervise the program.

Meanwhile, Adi Sasongko of the Kusuma Buana Foundation
expressed strong concern that the government's deworming campaign
may be missing the mark by concentrating solely on medical
treatment.

Adi said the campaign should stress changing the people's
living habits, by making them more aware of hygiene.

The ministry fails to understand the epidemic nature of worms,
he said. "If we look at the worms' life cycle, the key factor is
not medical treatment, but educating the community about
hygiene."

He also questioned the plan to give children treatment without
first checking their general health.

The huge expense of the campaign, he said, will benefit
pharmaceutical companies, whose products will be used, more than
the public.

The foundation said the incidence of worm infection among
school children ranges between 30 percent and 43 percent.

But the Indonesian Parasite Control Association said in 1992
that intestinal worm infections had a very high reading, with a
incidence of round worm at 70-90 percent, whip worm at 80-95
percent, and hookworm at 30-59 percent. (31)