The Mission Director (MD) National Health Mission (NHM) J&K, Choudhary M Yasin today inaugurated the National Deworming programme organised by Chief Medical Officer Srinagar at Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Govt. Medical College Srinagar.The programme was organised with an aim to de-worm preschool and school-age children between the ages of 1-19 years in order to improve their overall health, nutritional status, access to education and quality of life.Speaking on the occasion, the MD said that every year two rounds of National Deworming Day are being conducted on designated days- August 10 & February 10, in all the States and UTs of the country having Soil Transmitted Helminths (STH) prevalence of more than 50 Percent.However, he said, amid COVID-19 pandemic, implementation of NDD August 2021 round exclusively through the platforms of schools and anganwadis is not possible, therefore in continuation to the strategy adopted during the last round of NDD conducted during February- April 2021, implementation of NDD August 2021 round shall be conducted through a community based strategy by providing de-worming tablets to target population in their households by front line healthcare workers from August 10th to September 15th, 2021.
The Dy Director, DHSK, Dr Ab Rashid, while speaking on the occasion directed the officers of Health Department to ensure 100 percent coverage for deworming of children.Dr Salim Khan, HoD SPM, GMC, Srinagar on the occasion said that deworming is a safe, cost-effective intervention for breaking the worm cycle which has shown to reduce absenteeism in schools, improve learning outcomes for children later in life.Chief Medical Officer Srinagar stressed for behaviour change practices in terms of cleanliness, hygiene, use of toilets, wearing shoes/chappals, washing hands etc. which is also important to reduce incidence of infection. Those present on the occasion included HoD, SPM, GMC Srinagar, Dr Salim Khan; Dy Director Schemes Directorate of Health Services Kashmir, Dr Ab Rashid; Chief Medical Officer, Srinagar; Dr Jameel Ahmad Mir; SNO, NHM, J&K, Dr M Shafi Koka; Divisional Nodal Officer, NHM, Kashmir, Dr Misbah Samad; Zonal Medical Officers & other senior officers from State Health Society & Programme Management Unit NHM.