PAGADIAN CITY—The Department of Health reported that it dewormed 172,037 public elementary and secondary students in July under the ongoing National School Deworming program in the Zamboanga Peninsula.
Dr. Sitti Nurrusssamsi Amilhassan, DOH Region 9 deworming program manager, said they are targeting 701,423 pupils in the region.
Amilhassan reported that from July 1 to 18, the DoH was able to deworm 172,037 students broken down to 31,719 in the schools division of Zamboanga del Sur; 8,642 in Pagadian City; 17,097 in Zamboanga del Norte; 4,755 in Dipolog City; 3,654 in Dapitan City; 51,502 in Zamboanga Sibugay; 53,373 in Zamboanga City; and 1,295 in Isabela City.
These children, Amilhassan said were given 400 milligrams of Albendazole chewable tablets after they had their breakfasts.
“We want to meet our target during the conduct of the National School Deworming Month. A health worker must be present on school deworming day to monitor any adverse effects of the deworming tablets,” Amilhassan said.
Before, the office conducted the program for only one day; now it was changed to one month covering kindergarten to high school students, she said, adding that the latter were also included because many of them have anemia and low school academic performance.
