UAE’s Dubai Cares launches $3 million de-worming project for Pakistan children

In this image taken on January 30, 2020, children in Pakistani school are being vaccinated by a team of paramedics of UAE-based philanthropic organization Dubai Cares. (Photo by Emirates News Agency)

• Government spending on health care amounts to just 2.6 percent of Pakistan’s total GDP
• The three year program will target 17 million children in 44 districts

ISLAMABAD: UAE-based philanthropic organization, Dubai Cares, has joined hands with Pakistan’s government to combat intestinal worms among school-aged children in a $3 million health program, Emirates Press Agency reported on Thursday.
A national survey to assess the extent of intestinal worm infection in school-aged children across Pakistan concluded that approximately 17 million children were in need of regular deworming in the South Asian country of 208 million people. Government spending on health care currently amounts to a mere 2.6 percent of Pakistan’s total GDP.
Dubai Cares, part of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, has launched its three-year deworming program for Pakistan’s school-aged children between ages 5 to 14 across northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Islamabad, Sindh, Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan.
The program titled “School-Based Deworming in Pakistan” is part of a worldwide effort by global non-profit organization, Evidence Action, to combat intestinal worms with cost-effective models. This was part of the agenda for the 2012 London Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD), which Dubai Cares joined in 2014-- a global alliance led by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, with pharmaceutical companies, health organizations, private foundations, donors and governments pledging support to reduce NTDs.
The program also involves training for government staff, health workers and teachers to carry out deworming treatments targeting the school-aged children across 44 districts.
According to UNICEF figures, Pakistan currently has the world’s second-highest number of out-of-school children with an estimated 22.8 million children aged 5-16 not attending school.