India recently held the largest single-day public health campaign ever conducted. In schools and preschools around the vast country, some 270 million children lined up in their classrooms to receive a small, chewable deworming tablet as part of the government-led National Deworming Day.
India is the latest country to join the global movement to combat parasitic worms and boost development. Of the 845 million children at risk for parasitic worms worldwide, more than 20 percent are in India. Last year, the Indian Ministry of Health inaugurated NDD as a multistate effort to treat 89 million children for parasitic worms in a single day. The 2016 campaign was significantly scaled up to reach three times as many children in most states and union territories.
Parasitic worm infections are still among the most common infections worldwide, affecting approximately 1.5 billion of the poorest people in the “global south” — impeding children’s development and educational achievement, and likely affecting the economic development of entire nations.
About the authors
Grace Hollister
Grace Hollister is responsible for strategic management and technical oversight of Evidence Action’s Deworm the World Initiative. She also works with a variety of partners to expand opportunities for school-based deworming programs globally.
Priya Jha
Priya Jha leads Evidence Action’s work in India. She provides leadership, overall technical guidance, and management of Evidence Action’s activities in India. She has particular expertise in strategic planning, program design, and scale-up of evidence-based interventions.
