The government of Cross River and Evidence Action, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), are targeting 912,854 children across 14 Local Government Areas (LGAs) for the 2025 deworming exercise in the state.
Mr Toochi Ohaji, the Senior Programme Manager of Evidence Action in the South-South, said this on Saturday in Calabar during a discussion with journalists.
Ohaji mentioned that the deworming exercise, which was also held in 2024, successfully treated 847,455 children in the 14 LGAs.
He emphasised that the goal of the exercise was to eliminate Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) by 2030.
Evidence Action operates in five states: Cross River, Rivers, Lagos, Oyo, and Ogun.
The organisation aims to treat more than six million children annually for schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis across those states.
According to him, the 2025 deworming exercise is scheduled to run from May 14 to May 20, focusing on school-based treatments for children between the ages of five and 14.
Ohaji added that the medications, provided by the World Health Organisation (WHO), had already been delivered to Cross River with the support of Evidence Action.
“Worm infections are common in countries with poor sanitation and hygiene, and in Nigeria, Cross River is one of the states with a high prevalence among children.
“Worms affect children’s health, causing anemia, hinder their education by making them too sick to attend school, and pose long-term threats to adult outcomes and economic development.
“Since the deworming exercise will be school-based, children in rural areas who are not attending school should be taken to nearby schools or Primary Healthcare Centres to receive free treatment,” Ohaji noted.
Mrs Veronica Mark, Cross River’s NTD Coordinator at the State Ministry of Health, confirmed that the officials conducting the deworming exercise had been properly trained.
She also said that the programme would cover 14 LGAs, with the remaining four LGAs being addressed through a separate programme.
Mark appealed to journalists to help raise awareness in the state about the importance of deworming, stressing that the drug, mebendazole, was safe, effective, and would be administered free of charge.
