The Bihar School-Based Deworming Program targets all school-age children in the state, as all 21 million children are considered to be at risk of parasitic worm infection. 17 million school-age children in over 67,000 schools were provided with deworming treatment in early 2011 during the first round of the program, making the Bihar program the largest school-based deworming program ever conducted. Nearly 140,000 teachers and 20,000 health workers in 38 districts were trained to help deliver medication through the government school network. This successful treatment round was funded by the Government of Bihar, with support for DtW’s technical assistance provided by the World Bank and the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases.
Read more from the first report on the Bihar deworming in February-April 2011: Indian State of Bihar Makes History with World's Largest School-based Deworming Program.
Press coverage of the Bihar School-based Deworming Program
The Hindu Free from worms, free to learn.
The Hindu Worm Infections Costing India Billions in Lost Income.
The Tribune De-worming schoolchildren: Bihar leads the way.
The ONE Blog Indian State Implements Record-Breaking School Health Campaign For 17 Million Children.
The Hindu Bihar's First Ever School-Based Deworming Program To Be Launched.
The Telegraph India 21 Million Children To Be Dewormed In Bihar, India.
| "Bihar is only the second state in the country to launch this program, for treating children at risk for parasitic worm infections, which is expected to bring about a significant improvement in the education and nutritional levels of children in the school going age of 6-14 years." - Mr. Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Health Minister of Bihar |
Making History in India - The Bihar Story
This video, which features the DtW-supported Bihar program, was produced by the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases as part of their END7 campaign.
DtW Support for Bihar
DtW, in partnership with the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab at MIT, advocated for school-based deworming in Bihar. Since then, DtW has been working with the government to support the program by:
- Providing technical and operational assistance for all steps in program planning and implementation, including: undertaking prevalence surveying and analysis, including training 50 government lab technicians and personnel; developing work plans and implementation schedules; designing and coordinating the community awareness campaigns; developing and tailoring training materials and training the master trainers for teachers; designing and coordinating the monitoring and evaluation process.
- Leveraging resources by making catalytic investments in program activities. For example, we invested in independent WHO trained monitors to support the monitoring and evaluation process and printed the first round of training manuals to ensure the program rolled out on schedule. We also raised funds to undertake prevalence surveying and develop a statewide prevalence map for Bihar.
- Strengthening program coordination and partnerships through the creation of the State School Health Coordination Committee, led by the Bihar Education Project Council and the State Health Society Bihar, and facilitating regular meetings with program partners and other local stakeholders.
| "The mass deworming of school children was now being recognised as a significant contributor to achieving Education for All and the Millennium Development Goals." – Sanjay Kumar, Secretary-Health and Executive Director, State Health Society Bihar |
More press coverage of the Bihar School-based Deworming Program: Zeenews India 17 million kids dewormed in Bihar. End the Neglect Bihar makes history with world's largest school-based deworming program. People of Bihar Social Network Bihar undertakes one of the largest kids' deworming program Daily Post A lesson to be learnt from Bihar
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