Davao del Norte expanded its War on Worms (WOW) Campaign among preschool-age children (PSAC) with the implementation of the child development center (CDC)-based deworming in the entire province.

About 96,000 kids were targeted to be dewormed on Tuesday, July 26, 2016 in the cities and municipalities of the province. Some 636 children were earlier dewormed in the municipality of B.E. Duajli last July 13, 2016.

Soil-Transmitted Helminthiasis (STH) infections remain a significant public health problem among preschoolers.

The World Health Organization aims to eliminate STH infections as a public health problem by reducing prevalence of moderate-heavy intensity STH to less than 1%. Moderate-heavy intensity STH may result to severe morbidities, such as malnutrition and cognitive deficits.

Children with moderate-heavy STH infection also become ‘payat’ (thin), ‘pandak’ (short) have poor performance in school (3Ps).

A study by UP Manila in 2009 in several provinces in the Philippines showed a 43.7% cumulative STH infection prevalence and 22.4% prevalence of moderate-heavy intensity STH infection in preschool-age children.

The CDC-based deworming aims to improve control of STH infections, in support of the Garantisadong Pambata (GP) Program of the Department of Health (DOH).

It drew lessons from the success of the WOW Campaign in the school-based, teacher-assisted deworming in school-age children (SAC), which resulted to significant reductions in STH infection prevalence and intensity in Davao del Norte.

Child development centers, which are present in all the barangays, provide a captive environment where preschoolers could be simultaneously dewormed. Health promotion and education on STH infections are also encouraged to be incorporated in the parent education sessions (PES) in the CDCs.

The CDC-based scheme also provides the social welfare sector a more active role in deworming, where child development workers (CDWs) assist rural health midwives (RHMs) in the implementation of the scheme.

The parents, likewise, provide support through facilitating the feeding of PSAC before deworming, which is essential in minimizing the incidence of adverse events. Components of the scheme include advocacy, capacity building, social mobilization, multisectoral collaboration, and monitoring and evaluation.

The successful implementation of the CDC-based deworming in Davao del Norte, with Braulio Dujali being the first municipality among the WOW sites of the CDC-based deworming is being eyed to influence policy formulation for its scaling up of the program nationwide.

This was made possible through the collaboration of the Department of Health, Department of Social Welfare and Development, the local government unit (LGU) of Davao del Norte, and the University of the Philippines (UP) Manila.

Aside from CDC-based deworming, the government also promote other strategies, such as improvement in water,

sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), in improving morbidity control of STH infections among PSAC.