Sindh

Population At-Risk Of Intestinal Worms

# of at-risk districts	School-Age Children Population
7	4,336,730

abc STH prevalence = or over 20%

abc STH prevalence under 20%

Background

The Sindh Deworming Initiative was launched in 2018 with the establishment of three-tiered multi-stakeholder committees namely; the Steering Committee (SC) chaired by the Secretary of Health, the Technical Working Group (TWG) led by the Commissioner Office, Karachi, and seven District Management Committees (DMCs) overseen by the respective Deputy Commissioners.

While the SC serves as a central decision-making body for the program, TWG oversees the provincial-level implementation and the DMCs are the district-level implementation units that oversee program implementation at the district level. Each committee has representation from the Ministry of Health, Emergency Operations Cell (EOC), School Education & Literacy Department (SE&LD), Directorate of School Education Karachi & Directorate of Inspection and Registration of Private Institutions Sindh (DIRPIS), Planning and Development Department, Commissioner and Mayor Offices both at the provincial as well as the district levels.

The first round of the Sindh Deworming Initiative has been successfully carried out from 1st – 5th November 2021. while the second round of deworming was held from 6th-11th February, 2023, in all 7 at-risk districts of Karachi division, Sindh. Contrary to using teachers in other regions, the Sindh program leverages government health workers to administer deworming treatment in schools and households, owing to the proportionate distribution of target population between enrolled (schools) and unenrolled (out-of-school) children.

Key Achievements 2023

The programmatic achievements for Sindh Deworming Initiative are determined by the targets achieved to date, stakeholders successfully engaged, and continued advocacy efforts to engage government funds for the program.