Governor’s wife launches de-worming exercise in Enugu

Mrs Monica Ugwuanyi, the wife of Enugu State Governor, on Thursday, launched a de-worming exercise for pupils in public and private primary schools.
Ugwuanyi, who launched the exercise in Enugu, said that de-worming of pupils in schools was a good step in the right direction.
She commended Federal Government for in ensuring that pupils were de-wormed as often as necessary and commended the Enugu State Government for domesticating the school feeding programme initiated by Federal Government.
The state’s Commissioner for Education, Prof.. Uche Eze, also thanked the Federal Government for introducing the feeding programme as it had boosted the children’s learning capacity.
Eze said that the feeding had also improved pupils’ health, adding that “only a child who is healthy can come to school and be attentive during lessons.”
In his goodwill message, the Commissioner for Health, Prof. Anthony Ugochukwu, commended Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi for his efforts to make Enugu one of the states to partake in the school feeding programme in the country.
Ugochukwu, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Dr Ifeanyi Agujiobi, said that health workers and teachers would undergo training so as to continue with the de-worming exercise.
Dr Ifeoma Otiji, the Coordinator of the Enugu State Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) said that The Carter Centre (TCC) would continue to collaborate with the homegrown feeding programme.
Otiji said that the collaboration was to ensure that school children ate before taking the de-worming medicine, especially the praziquantel tablets.
“We hope that the homegrown feeding programme will be fully integrated with Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) component of NTD control.
“It is of note that WASH alone can, without medicines, end most NTDs such as Soil-Transmitted Helminthes (STH) Schistosomiasis and other diseases that afflict school age children.”