School pupils in Manya Krobo dewormed
The Ghana Health Service (GHS), in collaboration with the Lower Manya Krobo Municipal Education Directorate, has dewormed about 29,765 pupils from 145 public and private schools in the area.
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The exercise, which was sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), formed part of the school mass drug administration programme in the municipality.
Importance
The Head of the Biostatistics Department of the Kpong Ensign College of Public Health in the Lower Manya Krobo municipality, Dr Stephen Manortey, at a workshop for heads of basic schools in the area on the deworming exercise, stressed the importance of good health and the need for parents and guardians to take proper care of their children and wards’ health to enable them to grow into productive adults.
According to him, the World Health Organisation (WHO) attached much premium to deworming schoolchildren who were more vulnerable to diseases.
Dr Manortey, therefore, suggested to the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service to ensure that the deworming exercise became a regular feature on the school calender for the healthy development of pupils and added, “This will be one of the ways to promote the health of our children.”
Advice
The Lower Manya Krobo Municipal Director of Education, Madam Margaret Aku Vormawor, advised teachers in the municipality to make health education part of their school worship topics to sensitise pupils to the importance of good health and the need to take their health care seriously.
The Lower Manya Krobo Municipal Director of the Ghana Health Service, Mrs Irena Offei, asked the authorities of beneficiary schools to monitor the effective administration of the drug and report any reaction on the children to health facilities.
Success
The Coordinator of the School Health Education Programme (SHEP) in the municipality, Godfried Ofoe Caesar, praised both parents and teachers for their cooperation during the exercise.
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According to him, “The exercise was very successful in all the schools, as it was devoid of any incident. This means that all the teachers and health workers collaborated effectively.”
He expressed the hope that the deworming exercise in basic schools would be sustained and commended the USAID for its continued support for the exercise in the past four years.