The World Health Organization estimates that 1.5 billion people, 24% of the world’s population, have a worm infection. Infected people usually have soil-transmitted helminth infections caused by the most prevalent worm species: roundworms, whipworms and hookworms.

These worms are spread through direct contact with contaminated soil caused by open defecation in impoverished, usually tropical, regions. The contact with human feces is a result of poor sanitation, feces contaminating crops and children walking barefoot.

The worm’s eggs can be ingested on food that has not been properly washed or cooked as well as through the consumption of food when people eat with dirty hands. Some worm larvae are also able to work their way through a person’s skin to enter into the body, especially through the soles of children’s bare feet.

When a child has a worm infection, his or her health is compromised. Symptoms are not always pronounced, but rather show up slowly and can sometimes be hard to detect. The worms leech essential nutrients away from a child’s body causing malnutrition, anemia, lethargy and cognitive repression due to lack of nutrients. These issues can cause children to be so physically weakened that school is missed and absenteeism rises.

Thankfully, even though worms are one of the most prevalent infections in poverty stricken areas, it is also has one of the easiest and most cost-effective forms of treatment. Several organizations are working toward deworming children. Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) and Deworm the World Initiative are two that have teamed up in this effort. Together they were able to deworm over 35 million children in 2012!

Deworming school-age children was possible through school initiatives. They have found that deworming children at school with a pill is highly effective for two reasons.

1. It is so easy that teachers can be trained to administer the medicine, which relieves the costs of needing medical specialists on site.

2. The medicine is safe even if a child is not currently infected. If 20% of the children in a region are known to have worms, then every child can be dewormed safely without the possibility of side effects. This will reduce any possible infections.

The medicine cost is very low as well. The actual medicine only costs a few pennies per child; factoring in all the costs associated with administering the medicine, the cost is still less than 50 cents per child. To be the most effective, the medicine needs to be administered twice a year. Since costs are so low, that goal is financially feasible.

A trial conducted in the early 2000s in Kenya found that by administering the medicine, school absenteeism fell by 25% and younger children were found to have cognitive gains. A separate study found that through deworming children’s bodies were better able to fight off other diseases, such as malaria, because essential nutrients were not being depleted by the worms.

Currently, Deworm the World is working quite intensely in India’s Bihar State, Delhi State and Rajasthan State, as well as in Kenya. The organization is able to work through the schools in those areas, treating millions of children. Those children are now given a much greater chance to excel in school since worms are not stealing their body’s resources.

Deworming children cannot be the sole answer, since the source of the worms needs to be addressed in the regions as well. Proper sanitation, clean water, uncontaminated food and children wearing shoes are still needed to ensure new worm infections do not occur.

But while those issues are being worked on, deworming children is giving infected children a chance to thrive in their education, since they are more energetic and focused during their studies and missing much less school than before.

– Megan Ivy

Sources: CDC, Evidence Action, Innovations for Poverty Action, WHO
Photo: What Gives