The Kwali Area Council, in partnership with a pharmaceutical company, Biomedical Limited, has commenced a mass deworming exercise for over 16,800 pupils between the age of two to five in the Kwali area of Abuja.

The marketing manager of Biomedical Limited, Watson Olojo, who spoke at the flag-off exercise, noted that the deworming exercise was designed to mark the 40th year anniversary of the company.

Olojo added that plans were ongoing to extend the programme to capture no fewer than 450,000 children in 12 states of the federation.

According to him, the company specifically chose the deworming exercise in its bid to ensure that children are provided the necessary nutrients required for their physical, mental growth and performance in schools.

He said: “This programme is targeted for 16800 doses of anti-worm drugs in Kwali Area Council. There is a particular age group that is being targeted and that is between two to five years of school-based pupils.

“I can tell you that one of the things we really recognised for biomedical Limited is the fact that we have transformed from lifesavers to live in infancy company and the school-based deworming is just one of them.

“The other ones are the visits to the orphanages where we attend to orphans and then in our communities, especially our community in a poorer state. We have done some community-related programs to support feeding, to say and they are recognized some of the most special festivals and moments.

READ ALSO: UniAbuja VC: Why we established Japanese language, culture centre 

“This is what we are going to be doing in 12 states and this is the fourth state we’re implementing. Our target for here is 16 800 students.”

Speaking at the event, the Etsu of Kwali, Alhaji Shaban Audu Nizazo III, noted that the programme would go a long way in providing the necessary nutrients for children within the Council and environs.

Represented by Chief Victor Obashono, he commended Biomedical Pharmaceutical for the move, saying: “It is going to improve the health status of children in the sense that health is wealth and a healthy child is going to produce a healthy knowledge so it is going to help them a lot.”

The representative of FCT Primary Healthcare, Aisha Bello, appreciated the company for its support in helping to eliminate worms in children 12 to 59 months, so they could grow as they should to reduce incidences of malnutrition.

“We appreciate their support because we are looking for partners to support the FCT primary health care in this intervention.

“The issue of malnutrition is a multi-sectoral problem so we need to approach it multisectorally. We need people coming from different sectors to support us, we are happy they chose to do this as a means of celebrating their 40th years anniversary,” Bello said.

The Star