RCSFDM SIGNS SISTERCLUB AGREEMENT WITH RC TUGUEGARAO-CITADEL
Turns over 5,000 tablets of deworming medicines
During the first regular meeting of the RCSFDM held last July 2, 2009 at the Quezon City Sports Club, the RCSFDM signed a partnership agree-ment (or commonly known as sisterclub agreement) with the Rotary Club of Tuguegarao-Citadel. What made, the signing more significant was that it was immediately followed by the turnover by the RCSFDM to RCT Citadel of five thousand tablets (500mg each) of deworming medicine (mebendazole).
De-worming is crucial in the treatment of children who are infected by one or more of the soil-transmitted heminths (STH): roundworms, whipworms, or hookworms. These worms thrive in areas where the soil is warm and humid and sanitation is inadequate.
The World Health Organization estimates that STH infections cause as many as 135,000 deaths a year. But the public health significance of STH infections lies in the chronic and disabling effects such as abdominal pain, intestinal obstruction, iron-deficiency anemia, increased susceptibility to other serious infections, stunted growth and impaired cognitive development in children. These conditions may ultimately have socio-economic consequences such as poor school performance in children and decreased labor productivity in adults.
RCSFDM plans to administer and distribute more doses of the de-worming medicine to as many as 54,000 children inside and outside Quezon City.
Up to 1.2 billion people globally are estimated to be infected with one or more of the soil-transmitted herminthes (STH); roundworms (Ascaris Lumbricoides), whipworms (Trichuris trichuria) or hookworms (Ancylostoma duodenale and Necator americanus).
STH infections are spread when people come into contact with feces of an infected individual through contaminated food or when larvae penetrate the skin in the case of hookworms. Thus, this disease disproportionately affects the poor in tropical and sub-tropical countries.
