Bhubaneswar: Health and Family and Welfare (HFW) department Thursday said more than one crore women of reproductive age (WRA) and children across the state will be vaccinated on National Deworming Day (NDD) August 10. The mop-up round will take place August 17 for those beneficiaries who missed the dose on coming Saturday, the officials informed. Addressing the media here, Family Welfare director Sanjukta Sahoo said, “During NDD, the children aged between six and19 years and women of reproductive age (20-24 years) will be provided with Albendazole tablet while children aged one to five years will be administered ageappropriate Albendazole suspension at respective schools and Anganwadi centres facilitated by teachers, Anganwadi and ASHA workers”. “Lymphatic Filariasis-Mass Drug Administration (LFMDA) will be implemented in identified Implementation Unit (IU) / blocks of 11 districts including Angul, Bargarh, Dhenkanal, Ganjam Jharsuguda, Jajpur, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Sambalpur, Subarnapur and Sundargarh in which, children aged 1-2 years will be provided with Albendazole suspension under NDD.
In rest of the blocks of these 11 districts where LF-MDA is not implemented, children and women will be covered under NDD,” she said. According to HFW department, NDD round will be held in 19 districts including Balasore, Bhadrak, Bolangir, Boudh, Cuttack, Deogarh, Gajapati, Jagatsighpur, Kendrapara, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Khurda, Koraput, Malkangiri, Nayagarh, Nabrangpur, Nuapada, Rayagada and Puri. Also, Lymphatic FilariasisMass Drug Administration (LFMDA) will be implemented in some IU/blocks of 11 districts including Angul, Bargarh, Dhenkanal, Ganjam Jharsuguda, Jajpur, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Sambalpur and Sundargarh. “Along with the deworming campaign, vitamin A supplementation programme will also be implemented. The children aged nine to 60 months will receive age-appropriate vitamin A solutions at routine immunisation sites and at special village health sanitation centres and Nutrition Day,” officials said.
“National Deworming Day is a vital initiative in safeguarding the health of our children and communities. The campaign aims to improve the overall health, nutritional status, access to education, and quality of life of children and women of reproductive age,” Unicef’s Nutrition Specialist Sourav Bhattacharjee said.
