According to the World Health Organization, the most effective and immediate way to reduce the morbidity associated with these soil-transmitted helminths is to mount regular deworming campaigns using the safe, inexpensive, and highly effective treatment with either mebendazole or albendazole.
Long term measures include the implementation of public health measures to improve sanitation and access to safe water. Public awareness campaigns on safe hygienic practices can also significantly reduce the danger of reinfection.
The RVF first partnered with the Ministry of Health of Kyrgyzstan in 2008 – 2009 to conduct a pilot deworming campaign in Kyrgyzstan’s two most impoverished regions- Batken and Osh. Over 1.5 million children and adults, representing over 95% of the targeted population, were treated in this successful school-based prototype operation.
As in the deworming program in the Batken and Osh regions, the nationwide campaign will be implemented entirely through the existing public health infrastructure by Kyrgyz health care workers, with oversight provided by both local and international RVF representatives.
The support of the RVF includes the provision of 5,330,000 tablets of chewable, mint-flavored albendazole, video and printed materials to raise awareness of basic methods of hygiene, funding for social mobilization, salary support for supervision of the program, and monitoring by representatives of the RVF from the U.S., Azerbaijan, and Kyrgyzstan.
The program will follow the successful school-based prototype operation of the Batken and Osh oblasts, which resulted in coverage rates greater than 95%. The national program will be a year-long effort. In the first six months the program will target the oblasts of the country sequentially – one oblast per month – until the targeted population has been treated. In the following six months all schoolchildren will receive a second round of treatment.
