As many as 9 out of every 10 children in the Philippines could be prone to poor physical and mental development because the problem of intestinal worms has largely gone unchecked, according to the Department of Health.
A nationwide study performed over 10 years by the Department of Education, Culture, and Sports found a prevalence of 50
-90% in children aged 2-14 years. Up to 30% of the population of 22 million children may have one or more of the three most common types of soil transmitted helminths: roundworm, hookworm, and whipworm.
“The common intestinal helminths, or worms, are becoming a major health problem in the country, particularly among children,” reported Dr Yvonne Lumampao, manager of the project to control soil transmitted helminths.
The WHO’s headquarters in Manila held a regional meeting on these diseases last year after the former prime minister of Japan, Ryutaro Hashimoto, raised the issue. “Most countries were doing nothing. They didn’t have national programmes, and some didn’t even have a recognition that it was a problem,” pointed out Dr Kevin Palmer, regional adviser in parasitic diseases at the WHO’s Manila headquarters.
Infection through ingestion or skin penetration, or both, often affects children’s performance in school as it can cause stunted growth, decreased physical activity, and poor physical and mental development, Dr Lumampao said. The most common symptoms of worm infestation are pain, enlargement of the abdomen, loss of appetite and weight, vomiting, insomnia, and irregular respiration.
Although worms thrive in tropical climates and are endemic to many developing countries, infestation is easily dealt with. A single dose of albendazole once a year for three years is enough to eradicate worms in a child.
Last year, the health department launched a pilot project in two villages in Aurora province in northern Luzon, where the prevalence had reached 65% Results have been encouraging so far, and the programme has been supported by local officials. The project’s budget was 3m pesos (£46000). To launch a nationwide scheme to eradicate worms in children would cost at least 100m pesos—money that local officials are not prepared to release from their budgets.
Figure.
Intestinal worms impair Philippine children’s growth and development