National Deworming Day: 10 February

National Deworming Day: 10 February

Every year February 10 and August 10 is observed as the National Deworming Day (NDD).

Organized by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the objective of the day is to deworm children and adolescents to reduce the prevalence of parasitic worms in the intestine.

The day aims at eradicating intestinal worms also known as Soil-Transmitted Helminths (STH), among children in the age group of 1-19 years.

According to the World Health Organisation, about 241 million children in India in the ages of 1-14 years are at a risk of parasitic intestinal worms or STH.

This means, India accounts for approximately 28 per cent of the total number of children globally estimated to be at-risk of STH infections.