Abia trains community volunteers as facilitators for school deworming program
Ifeoma Thomas, the Special Assistant on Vulnerable Groups and Poverty Alleviation, said the essence of the In-School Deworming Programme was to ensure those persons who are vulnerable and unreachable especially in the rural areas of the State were reached with deworming programme.
She explained that the deworming exercise was a pilot programme for children in primary one to junior secondary schools in 6 selected LGAs including Ohafia, Bende, Ikwuano, Isialangwa South, Obingwa and Osisioma.
According to her the Ministry of Health is capturing ages 0 to 5 in its deworming programmes but the In – School Deworming Programme is capturing a unique demography of children aged 6 to 14 years.
Thomas, who said that government was dedicated to serving and uplifting vulnerable groups including the internally displayed persons, the elderly, children and those experiencing abject poverty and ensure their voices are heard and their rights protected thanked the Wife of the Governor, Precilla Otti, for her concern on the vulnerable people and appreciated
some partners including civil society organizations,donor agencies ,SMOH, CARITORS, ANRIN, SOLINA, HSCL and HOPE SPRING for their collaborations.
Also speaking, the acting Executive Secretary, Abia State Primary Healtcare Development Agency Gladys Ike said training was aimed at deepening the understanding of the trainees about deworming excercise. She said worm infestation is always common among children, hence they are being targeted for the event. She said it is way of helping humanity and urged them to listen carefully so as the training would be an impactful one.
The Co-Facilitators, Okorie Lawrence and Caroline Charles said the trainees would go into the LGAs as facilitators and train others who would in turn go to schools to provide the deworming services and advised the trainees to pay attention and take the training very seriously.
They said that the World Bank projects had concentrated on 0 to 5 years while the Abia State government through the In – School Deworming Programme wanted to fill in the gap to ensure that every child in Abia iwas dewormed, adding that the programme was for children between 6 to 14 years of age.
