The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development says it will deworm no fewer than one million pupils for improved health alongside the school feeding programme.

National Coordinator, National Social Investments Programme (NSIP), Umar Bindir, said this at an event in Abuja on Monday.

The event was in respect to the “Planning Meeting and Development of Information Education Communication (IEC) Materials.”

According to the ministry, “As we are feeding them, there is also the need for us to deworm them so that the food could work properly in their system in order to improve their health conditions.

“We will be doing this regularly because some of the food items might have some chemical agents or germs in them. So if we deworm them, they will be healthier, while their brains will function better,” Mr Bindir said.

Mr Bindir, who was represented by Safiya Sani, the deputy director, Planning, Research and Statistics in the ministry, stressed the need to deworm the pupils to improve their health condition.

He said the deworming exercise would be for pupils from Primary One to Primary Six, particularly those in public schools, adding that it was not for only the beneficiaries of the home-grown school feeding programme.

Mr Bindir said that in line with its multi-sectoral nature, the national home-grown school feeding programme had embedded adjunct school health and nutrition activities to maximise the benefits of the free school meals on the health of pupils.

(NAN)