February 10: National Deworming Day
Every year National Deworming Day is observed twice on February 10th and August 10th. The event is observed by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The implementing agency under the ministry is National Health Mission.
The worms mainly spreads from the faeces of people who defecate in open.
Highlights
On the Deworming Day, the deworming tablet Albendazole is administered to children. The event is being observed twice a day since 2015. In the first round, 8.9 crore children in the age of 1-19 years were covered. Every year, the coverage of children were increased. In February 2019, 22.12 crore children were infected.
Significance
WHO data says that there are around 241 million children in India in the age group of 1 to 14 years that are affected due to parasitic intestinal worms. This says that India accounts to 28% of total number of children who are at the risk of parasitic intestinal infections.
Worm infections lead to anemia, malnutrition, diarrhea and loss of appetite.
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Month: Current Affairs - February, 2020