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 Ethiopia aims to treat at least 80 percent of children at risk from
parasitic worms by 2020, Evidence Action said.
The Horn of Africa nation, ravaged by famine in the 1980s, has
received international praise for the way it has improved its
national health system, notably via community programs.
The country of about 96 million people has more than 10 million
children at risk for schistosomiasis, caused by a parasite found in
contaminated lakes or other freshwater sites, and 18 million
children at risk from soil-transmitted helminths, parasitic worms,
the U.S.-based charity said.
Infections can prevent children benefiting from nutrients in their
food, leading to anaemia, malnourishment, impaired development and
other health problems.
Kenya has a similar program where Evidence Action is working with
the Kenyan government. Skills learned there will be leveraged in
Ethiopia, the charity said.
In the second phase of the Kenyan program that ended in March 2014,
6.4 million children were treated in more than 15,000 schools in
regions facing the highest risk.
The Kenyan program has helped cut school absenteeism by about 25
percent at a cost of about $3 million a year, in addition to drugs
donated by pharmaceutical firms, Evidence Action said.
Schools offer an effective medium to distribute the drugs as they
can be administered by teachers after some simple training, the
charity said. Most children receive one tablet a year.
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"School-based deworming would not have been an option 20 years ago
when enrolment rates in Sub-Saharan Africa were much lower," said
Katrin Verclas at Evidence Action, speaking about the Kenyan project
in Nairobi last year.
Enrolment has since risen across the continent. In Kenya, it climbed
when free primary education was introduced in 2003, which pushed
enrolment up from about 60 percent to more than 80 percent by 2009.
Rural school teachers say free deworming treatment has helped
improve enrolment further in their areas.
Ethiopia’s deworming program will use funding from a range of
sources, including the government, private donors, the
health-focused charity the END Fund and the British government's
Department for International Development.
The Kenyan project also has backing from the END Fund, as well as
from the Children's Investment Fund Foundation charity.
(Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Toby Chopra)
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