Parasitic worm infections disproportionately affect people living in poverty, especially those who are difficult to reach with mass drug administration. Evidence Action is committed to supporting innovations that enable treatment for all children at risk of worm infections regardless of their circumstances.

While programs such as Kenya’s National School-Based Deworming achieve high treatment coverage through the existing school infrastructure, sub-groups of children remain particularly difficult to reach. Hard-to-reach groups such as migrant children and children living in geographically remote areas are often at increased risk of parasitic worm infections due to factors including, frequently, poor sanitation infrastructure. Given the diverse needs of these groups, there is no one-size-fits-all solution.

Government officials identified over 300 children attending two mobile schools in nomadic pastoralist communities in Tana River county. Teachers at these schools migrate together with their communities and teach using blackboards, books, and other supplies carried by camels provided by the Ministry of Education’s National Council for Nomadic Education.

Since teachers are responsible for administering drugs to children, it is essential that they attend teacher training and that the government implementing team knows where they are on deworming day. We persistently tracked the migration patterns of these schools, investing additional time and resources into calling teachers to follow up on their progress preparing for deworming day and to ensure that they had received adequate drugs and program materials.

Read the full article about deworming efforts among children in Kenya by Matthew Hughsam at Evidence Action.