Deworming campaign from Sunday

The government will run a weeklong deworming campaign in all primary and secondary schools across the country from Sunday.

During the campaign, four crore schoolchildren -- aged 5-16 -- will get one deworming tablet.

The tablets will be distributed in around 1.2 lakh primary level and 33,000 secondary level educational institutions countrywide.

Health Minister Zahid Maleque announced the campaign during a press conference at the health directorate yesterday.

At the event, Dr MM Aktaruzzaman, deputy programme manager at the centre for disease control at the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), shared the details of the campaign.

"The tablet has no side effects if it is taken after meal. We urge guardians to send or bring in their children after breakfast," said Dr MM Aktaruzzaman.

"The prevalence of worm in children's stool has reduced to around 8 percent in 2018-19 from around 80 percent in 2005," he said.

The DGHS has been conducting the campaign twice a year since November 2008.