Deworming reduces absenteeism, improves learners' performance

Deworming school age children isone of the answers to good performance. [File, Standard]

Worms have been a public health threat for Kenya’s children for many decades, with the worst hit being pupils in primary schools who carry the heaviest disease burden.

The attendant absenteeism results in poor academic performance, besides diseases affecting their nutrition intake.  In rural areas, most play barefoot unaware that playgrounds could have soil-transmitted schistosomiasis and helminthes commonly caused by roundworms, hookworms and whipworms.