About a year ago we started a de-worming program for students attending Goducate literacy centers in Sabah. By now we are able to conduct 6-monthly de-worming treatments for all our students, which is the recommended treatment frequency for children.
Many of our teachers have told us that their students are now better able to concentrate in class and are much more active than they used to be. To monitor the effect of the program, we are using WHO’s free software to calculate all our students’ height, weight, and body mass index (BMI) and to track their growth relative to age and sex.
Students identified as severely malnourished are followed up by our community health worker.
We are going to extend the de-worming treatment to the students’ immediate families, who will be charged a nominal fee to cover the cost of the medication. To ensure that we can keep up with the program, we have trained two more community health workers, so that there is now a team of three.
Our local community health workers are also equipped with a digital blood-pressure machine and also a glucometer (for measuring blood sugar). They are trained to recognize abnormal readings and provide health advice accordingly. Villagers now approach these workers for routine follow-up to monitor their blood pressures and/or their blood sugar levels.
Through these activities, we have raised awareness among the adults of diabetes and hypertension and also of the pervasive problem of poor sanitation and its impact on their children’s health and growth.
