Treating large numbers of people for helminthiasis and schistosomiasis
Mass deworming
Nurse giving a deworming tablet to a child in Kakute, Uganda
[edit on Wikidata]
Mass deworming, is one of the preventive chemotherapy tools,[1][2] used to treat large numbers of people, particularly children, for worm infections notably soil-transmitted helminthiasis, and schistosomiasis in areas with a high prevalence of these conditions.[3][4] It involves treating everyone – often all children who attend schools, using existing infrastructure to save money – rather than testing first and then only treating selectively. Serious side effects have not been reported when administering the medication to those without worms,[1][2] and testing for the infection is many times more expensive than treating it. Therefore, for the same amount of money, mass deworming can treat more people more cost-effectively than selective deworming.[5] Mass deworming is one example of mass drug administration.[3]
Mass deworming of children can be carried out by administering mebendazole and albendazole which are two types of anthelmintic drug.[5] The cost of providing one tablet every six to twelve months per child (typical doses) is relatively low.[6]
Soil-transmitted helminthiasis is the most prevalent neglected tropical disease.[7] Over 870 million children are at risk of parasitic worm infection.[8] Worm infections interfere with nutrient uptake, can lead to anemia, malnourishment and impaired mental and physical development, and pose a serious threat to children’s health, education, and productivity. Infected children are often too sick or tired to concentrate at school, or to attend at all.[9] In 2001, the World Health Assembly set a target for the World Health Organization (WHO) to treat 75% of school-aged children by 2010.[5]
Some non-governmental organizations support mass deworming, such as the Deworm the World Initiative (a project of the non-governmental organization Evidence Action), the END Fund (founded by Legatum Foundation in 2012),[10] the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative, and Sightsavers. Because of the low cost of deworming children, large-scale implementation may provide wider benefits to society.[11]
^ abWHO (2006). Preventive chemotherapy in human helminthiasis: coordinated use of anthelminthic drugs in control interventions: a manual for health professionals and programme managers(PDF). WHO Press, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. pp. 1–61. ISBN 9241547103.
^ abAlbonico M, Allen H, Chitsulo L, Engels D, Gabrielli AF, Savioli L (March 2008). "Controlling soil-transmitted helminthiasis in pre-school-age children through preventive chemotherapy". PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. 2 (3): e126. doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0000126. PMC 2274864. PMID 18365031.
^ abTaylor-Robinson DC, Maayan N, Donegan S, Chaplin M, Garner P (September 2019). "Public health deworming programmes for soil-transmitted helminths in children living in endemic areas". The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 9 (9): CD000371. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD000371.pub7. PMC 6737502. PMID 31508807.
^Gabrielli AF, Montresor A, Chitsulo L, Engels D, Savioli L (December 2011). "Preventive chemotherapy in human helminthiasis: theoretical and operational aspects". Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 105 (12): 683–93. doi:10.1016/j.trstmh.2011.08.013. PMC 5576527. PMID 22040463.
^ abcHelminth control in school-age children: a guide for managers of control programmes(PDF) (2nd ed.). World Health Organization. 2011. pp. vii. ISBN 9789241548267.
^Cite error: The named reference EAcost was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Lo, Nathan C.; Heft-Neal, Sam; Coulibaly, Jean T.; Leonard, Leslie; Bendavid, Eran; Addiss, David G. (2019-11-01). "State of deworming coverage and equity in low-income and middle-income countries using household health surveys: a spatiotemporal cross-sectional study". The Lancet Global Health. 7 (11): e1511–e1520. doi:10.1016/S2214-109X(19)30413-9. ISSN 2214-109X. PMC 7024997. PMID 31558383.
^"Soil Transmitted Helminths". WHO. Archived from the original on August 20, 2012. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
^Baird S, Hicks JH, Kremer M, Miguel E (November 2016). "Worms at Work: Long-run Impacts of a Child Health Investment" (PDF). The Quarterly Journal of Economics. 131 (4): 1637–1680. doi:10.1093/qje/qjw022. PMC 5094294. PMID 27818531. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-01-16. Retrieved 2015-07-28.
^"Philanthropy: the search for the best way to give". Financial Times. April 2017. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
^"GiveWell Top Charities". Givewell. 2018. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
massdeworming can treat more people more cost-effectively than selective deworming. Massdeworming is one example of mass drug administration. Mass deworming...
Deworming (sometimes known as worming, drenching or dehelmintization) is the giving of an anthelmintic drug (a wormer, dewormer, or drench) to a human...
Deworming programs can improve school attendance by 25 percent. Although deworming improves the health of an individual, outcomes from massdeworming...
decreasing outdoor defecation, not using raw feces as fertilizer, and massdeworming are effective. Treatment is typically with the medications albendazole...
also used in massdeworming campaigns of school-aged children in many developing countries. Anthelmintics are also used for massdeworming of livestock...
donating all the drug therapies required, and mass drug administration efforts (for example, massdeworming) have been successful in several countries....
administer oral deworming treatments to students. In 2012, a full-scale roll-out was launched, with treatments administered in a series of "deworming days" across...
achieved by treating entire groups in which the disease exists, known as massdeworming. This is done every year for about six years, in an effort to rid a...
areas with low malaria endemicity. Another example of mass drug administration is massdeworming of children to remove helminth infections (intestinal...
This is a timeline of deworming, and specifically massdeworming. Helminthiasis List of diseases eliminated from the United States Neglected tropical diseases...
Malaria Foundation and Malaria Consortium, deworming charities Schistosomiasis Control Initiative and Deworm the World Initiative, and GiveDirectly for...
eliminate the disease, the Indian government provides mass drug administration (MDA) to achieve massdeworming. The treatment is a few pills taken once a year...
Health Care Program" by the Department of Education in the Philippines. Massdeworming twice a year, supplemented by washing hands daily with soap and brushing...
Bangladesh to strengthen their deworming program and continues to engage with countries like Kenya to strengthen their deworming efforts. CWW serves as the...
happening from the conventional "vegan diatribe" to approaches focused on mass consumer appeal and innovative food technology. The book was praised for...
She was also the Principal investigator of a study that found that massdeworming campaigns had little effect on children’s health in low- and middle-income...
concomitant use of the one-time chemotherapy drug and now veterinary deworming agent levamisole can cause purpura of the ears, face, trunk, or extremities...
first evidence-based, national deworming programs in sub-Saharan Africa.[citation needed] Miguel's research on deworming has been covered by The New York...
addressed to diminish the incidence of untreated re-infection. Lastly, with mass drug administration strategies and improved diagnosis and prompt treatment...
Malaria Foundation, GiveDirectly, Schistosomiasis Control Initiative, and Deworm the World Initiative, as well as standout charities (see Good Ventures for...
that santonin is among the most toxic of herbal anthelminthic drugs, deworming using santonin is complicated in comparison to more modern anthelminthics...
to help distribute NTD treatments. In 2019 the END Fund launched the Deworming Innovation Fund which aims to end intestinal worms and schistosomiasis...