Dubai Cares contributes Dh11 million to deworming program in India

Tariq Al Gurg with the Indian Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Shri Jagat Prakash Nadda”, at the launch of India’s National Deworming Program.- Supplied photo

Dubai: Dubai Cares today announced a contribution of Dh11 million for 4 years towards a groundbreaking national school-based deworming program by the Government of India to treat all children at risk for parasitic worms. Dubai Cares’ contribution complements the commitment of the Government of India towards the program that aims to deworm 140 million children in its first phase.

The launch of India’s National Deworming Program will take place in twelve states starting from February 10, 2015, which has been declared National Deworming Day in India. The National Deworming Day, which is the largest single-day school-based deworming effort in the world, targets an initial 140 million children at risk for parasitic worms in schools and pre-schools. The twelve participating states in this first phase of the national program are: Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, and Tripura.

Dubai Cares has partnered with Evidence Action’s Deworm the World Initiative - an initiative that tackles worm infections, anemia and malnourishment amongst children - to support transformational change in health and nutrition amongst children in India.

As part of its contribution, Dubai Cares will support Evidence Action over the course of four years to partner with national and state governments in developing national deworming guidelines and communications campaigns, determine prevalence survey guidelines to assess the impact of deworming, and provide technical assistance for state scale-up.

Elaborating on Dubai Cares’ involvement in the Indian government’s deworming program during the official launch in Jaipur, India, Tariq Al Gurg, Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Cares said: “The government of India is forward thinking in its efforts to improve the health and education of its children. As a philanthropic organization, we firmly believe that in order to drive academic excellence among students, it is necessary to promote student health and encourage better nutrition. Dubai Cares has invested in a number of transformative deworming programs as part of our school health and nutrition strategy in Kenya, Palestine, Angola, Vietnam and Namibia. We are well-placed to offer assistance in leveraging existing platforms for program delivery and scaling up implementation to increase coverage.”

As part of the program, Dubai Cares will support Evidence Action’s work with the government of India to scale up the new national program.

news@khaleejtimes.com