Worms

Worms

Children, especially those without shoes, often suffer infections of parasitic worms – hookworm, pinworm, whipworm, threadworm and flatworm have roughly the same effect. The outcome of an infection for the child can be serious, including discomfort, constipation, diarrhoea, malnutrition, profound mental and physical retardation and even death. Where the infection is gross, children develop huge protruding bellies that leave them hardly able to walk. 

The Ghanaian government can no longer afford to provide de-worming tablets so we organise twice yearly tablet distributions. We don’t want to be locked into providing these for (delete: the foreseeable future) ever so have asked the district officers to explain to parents that in future it will be for them to buy de-worming tablets, not Ashanti Development. This year, we’re focussing on the welfare of migrants, who are arriving great numbers from as far away as Burkino Faso, Niger and Mali. Most migrant children have worms.