August 14, (THEWILL) – Over 10,000 children from Gboko East constituency, Benue State, are set to benefit from the mass deworming exercise, sponsored by Hon. Mrs Beckie Orpin, representing Gboko East in the House of Assembly.
The State Lawmaker, who spoke at the occasion on Sunday, listed the benefitting Council wards to include Mbayion, Ipav and Yandev.
The House Committee Chairman on Appropriation noted that the programme is one of the modest ways of responding to the health and development needs of children within her constituency.
While stressing the need for leaders in the country to prioritise the well-being of children, Mrs Orpin observed that many children have suffered impediments to their growth and several factors have accounted for why they cannot fully develop.
“It is our hope that every child grows and lives his full potential but depriving infants and young children of basic health care and denying them the nutrients needed for growth and development sets them up to fail in life.”
According to the Gboko East representative, when children are well nourished and cared for and provided with a safe and stimulating environment, they are more likely to survive and have fewer disease attacks.
“The free deworming programme was carried out in partnership with the management of Tyonex Nigeria Limited, a pharmaceutical company.
Children dewormed are those between 2 to 12 years. I promised to seek more partnerships with other similar organisations to improve the health needs of children in my constituency.”
In a remark, Mr Agba disclosed that over 1.5 billion children are suffering from deworming worldwide.
He stressed that children that are properly dewormed usually grow up to have sound health systems and perform better.
In his remarks, one of the traditional rulers of the area, Chief Joseph Ikpaahula, commended Mrs Orpin for the initiative and for considering the health challenge of the children, whom he described as leaders of tomorrow.
Chief Ikpaahula commended the awareness of parents towards immunisation of their children against diseases like polio and measles, a development he said has gone a long way in eradicating deadly diseases in the area and called for more such programmes.
