Local drug manufacturers are raking in Sh70 million every year from school deworming programmes.
Health Chief Administrative Secretary Rashid Aman said the decision to procure deworming drugs for schoolchildren locally was in line with the Big Four agenda.
He said the programme, which was rolled out in 2009 has registered immense successes and expressed optimism the country will achieve a 100 per cent deworming rate.
“The programme is already beneficial through the purchase of medicines from local manufacturers at a cost of about Sh70 million annually using funds from the Ministry of Health,” Aman said.
“Increased government commitment will be the cornerstone for the programme’s sustainability. That means both the national and the county governments must step up to finance this programme.”
The CAS said the next five-year phase of the programme will have an in-built sustainability strategy and plan to ensure that all technical support functions received from partners are taken up by the government.
Aman was speaking at Mundika Boys Primary School in Busia on Wednesday during celebrations to mark 10 years since the National School-Based Deworming Programme was launched.
The programme covers more than 20 counties. The deworming programme has treated about 53 million schoolchildren since 2012.
In 2021 alone, the programme treated 6.4 million children, accounting for 87 per cent of children at risk of worm infestation surpassing the World Health Organization target of 75 per cent of children at risk of worm infestation.
Intestinal worms, the CAS said, are a major public problem in Kenya, with at least six million children at risk of infection nationally.
Untreated worm infestation, Aman said, results in children being malnourished despite being fed the right diet.
“The reason for this is that the worms in the digestive system compete for food. This can also lead to anaemia as the worms suck the children's blood from the digestive system,” he said.
Worm infestation, he said, also leads to poor growth and poor mental performance, which can have long-term effects that impact children as they grow into adulthood.
Busia, where the celebrations took place, is one of the counties where the burden of soil transmitted worms exceeds 20 per cent and is targeted for mass administration of deworming medicines.
The county is also one of 15 counties with double transmission of soil transmitted worms and bilharzia.
The school deworming programme was started in 2009 with the support of the World Bank to eliminate parasitic worms in the country.
“In 2009, 3.6 million children were dewormed through coordinated efforts of the ministries of Health and Education,” the CAS said.
“In 2012, the two ministries entered into an agreement with Evidence Action to scale-up deworming across 27 counties identified as risk counties and to reach 6.7 million children aged between two and 14 years.” The Kenya Medical Research Institute is also a partner in the programme.
Aman said a second five-year agreement was signed for 2017-22.
The third agreement is underway, he said.
"The ministries of Health and Education and our partner Evidence Action will soon sign this agreement which will guarantee continuity of the programme for the next five years,” the CAS said.
Benefits of deworming
During the launch, it was revealed that deworming has helped increase the rate of passing of the KCPE exam among treated children by 9.5 per cent.
It also emerged that children who are not dewormed stunt and have reduced cognitive ability resulting in poor school performance, with an estimated 70 per cent of them scoring lower than the C plain in KCSE exam.
Official data from the Health ministry shows that in 2014, 16.9 per cent of people of working age who experienced stunted growth as children completed primary school, compared to 62.2 per cent of those who were not stunted.
Evidence Action country director Chrispine Owaga said his organisation will continue to support the programme.
“As an organisation, we are committed to building a world where hundreds and millions of people in the poorest places have better opportunities and their lives are measurably improved,” he said.
He said Evidence Action will ensure safe drinking water is available to Kenyans to limit the transmission of waterborne diseases.
Past studies have shown that treating children for worms yields long-term health and economic gains.
One national study, focused on Kenya and covering 20 years, found that children who receive a few extra years of deworming eventually have better jobs and higher incomes than those who get less treatment.
In the National Bureau of Economic Research study, students were selected from 50 Kenyan schools to begin health education and deworming treatment in 1998 and 1999, while those at 25 others started the regimen in 2001.
Twenty years later, the study showed increased cognitive abilities and reduced school absenteeism among dewormed schoolchildren.
However, the programme was interrupted after schools were closed due to Covid-19.
“For these kids, losing a couple of years of schooling can have really bad consequences. They need a response right now to find a way to deliver at least some of those services,” researchers said.
Edited by A.N
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