Because of home remedies that are consistently administered by home-makers we know that there is some kind of general awareness of intestinal parasitic problems, or in general terms, worms. But in Belize there has been no study to determine how many have worms, where they got them, and how to get rid of them. In fact, no study has been conducted since 1968 and even then there was no documentation. But all that's changed now; a study that was conducted in the Stann Creek and Toledo Districts with the assistance of the Pan American Health Organization was presented to the Ministry of Health and other stakeholders today and 7NEWS was there.
Dr. Jorge Polanco,
"There is an association, a very direct link, with intestinal parasitism and the performance of children at school. So that has been shown and we also that apart from the performance in school there is the individual physical impact on the child. For example there is the oral nutritional status, anemia for example."
Alfonso Noble,
So it is a big health problem?
Dr. Jorge Polanco,
"Of it is because these underlining problem with the children, for example malnutrition or anemia that could be linked to hookworms, for example, will affect or does affect children and their performance in school and that's only one aspect. Apart you have the complications that would occur, not often, but can happen; for example chronic diarrhea, abdominal pain, and anorexia. So all these combine lead from one problem to another. There is a moderate to high prevalence in school children so the concern is to address the risk factors which we know the underlining factors are environmental and sanitation so that's one of the areas we'll look very closely at."
In brief the study shows that of 500 children who were sampled 60% showed that they were infected with parasites, 39% were not. Armed with those figures the study will be extended to other parts of the country. The workshop concludes tomorrow when a course of action will be determined.
