DOH to hold media forum on NSDD in Pagadian City
By Franklin P. Gumapon
PAGADIAN CITY, Jan. 12 (PIA) – To encourage public
participation and support to the National School Deworming Day (NSDD) on Jan.
27, 2016, the Department of Health (DOH)-9 is slated to hold a media forum at
Mardale Hotel here come Jan. 14 at 9 a.m.
Radio, print and TV media practitioners based in the city
and the province of Zamboanga del Sur are invited to attend the said forum to
apprise them of the importance and benefits the NSDD gives the schoolchildren.
The DOH has tapped the support of the local press to drum up
public awareness on the NSDD, which aims to deworm the students enrolled in
public schools from Grades 1 to 7.
It could be recalled that DOH-9 had missed to realize its
deworming target of more than 70 percent in the July 2015 NSDD, as many of the
schoolchildren were rushed to the health centers and hospitals due to dizziness
and abdominal pain after taking the deworming tablets.
Abdominal pain, vomiting and dizziness are said to be normal
symptoms associated with deworming.
To avoid a repeat of last year’s hullaballoo about the deworming
activity, this time the DOH is intensifying its information campaign with
partner-agencies, media and other stakeholders.
Intestinal parasites such as roundworm (Ascaris
lumbricoides), whipworm (Trichuris trichiura) and hookworms (Necator americanus
and Ancylostoma duodenale) are soil-transmitted and they can cause poor
physical growth, poor intellectual development in children and can result in
anemia and malnutrition not only among children but also among women of
childbearing age.
