A CITY health official encouraged parents to have their children dewormed at the nearest health center.
Davao City Health Office (CHO) Nutrition Division Head Elizabeth Banzon said during the iSpeak media conference on Thursday, January 12, 2023, that deworming is now more accessible to parents as it can be administered by the barangay nutritionists at the district health centers. Parents are urged to deworm their children aged one and a half years to 19 years old.
“Libre ni siya ha, at the same time effective ni atong medisina (Our medicines are free and at the same time, they are effective),” Banzon said.
She said deworming will prevent infections and diseases caused by parasites
“Dili puwede na ang bulate magpundo ra sa tiyan, kay mao nang gakuhag sustansya sa mga gikaon (We should not allow parasites in our bodies because it will take the nutrition we need),” Banzon added.
Banzon also said their office currently relegates their health workers to the communities and schools to do deworming.
Meanwhile, she also urged parents to remind their children to stay clean and safe especially, when at school, during playtime, or when eating.
“Gina-encourage pud nato ang mga bata na maghugas og kamot, lalo na human og dula, kay ang pamaagi ra ba kung makakuha ka og bitok kay kani atong kamot kung hugaw ba sya (We encourage children to frequently wash hands, especially after playing, because parasites can enter their body with dirty hands),” Banzon said.
“Sa mga school children dapat parents jud ang magprepare kung dili man gani, dapat ang naga-prepare pud sa food limpyo pod(Parents should be the ones to prepare food for their children, if not, the food prepared for the children is clean),”she added.
For the month of January, the Department of Health’s (DOH) observes National Deworming Month. The agency and the health sector encourage the deworming of children and young teens twice a year in a bid to prevent them from getting Soil Transmitted Helminths (STH) or locally known as “bitok.” ICE