Egypt launched on Sunday a national campaign to treat intestinal worms among school children.
The campaign, running through 19 November, was launched under the auspices of the Ministry of Health in cooperation with the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The initiative will dispatch teams to administer preventive doses to children in governmental schools nationwide.
Naima El-Qusayr, the WHO representative in Egypt, said the campaign was first launched countrywide in academic year 2015-2016, read a health ministry statement.
This year, however, children in kindergarten are included.
The initiative falls within the partnership agreement between the WHO and the Ministry of Health to provide better healthcare services for the Egyptian population.
According to the WHO, intestinal worm infections are among the most common infections worldwide, affecting mostly poor and deprived communities.
Where sanitation is poor, eggs of worms, most commonly round worms, whipworms and hookworms, are passed through human faeces contaminating the soil.
Children suffering from intestinal worm infections usually display symptoms of diarrhea, weakness, and fatigue.
According to WHO's latest statistics, more than 880 million children worldwide need to be treated from intestinal worm infections.
WHO donated 15 million Mebendazole tablets for the Egyptian initiative.
The drug, in use worldwide since 1971, is on the WHO's list of essential medicines.
The initiative will publish educational messages to parents and students to raise their awareness about the importance of maintaining healthy habits to avoid this and similar infections in the future.
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