National Deworming Day, celebrated on August 10 every year, is an initiative by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare – a focused strategy to combat parasitic worm infections in children.

GlaxoSmithKline Consumer healthcare and The Akshaya Patra Foundation, Hubbali, came together for an integrated nutrition intervention. The two organisations executed an awareness and participation drive among school children on the occasion of National Deworming Day. During the week of National Deworming Day, close to 50 thousand children, enrolled in 400+ government schools, were reached out to via this communication drive.

As a part of this campaign, a team from Akshaya Patra, along with Mr Vardhaman – Zonal Supervisor, visited various schools, including Higher Primary School (HPS) Kamankatti, Dharwad; Model Primary School Pancha Kacheri, Dharwad; HPS Govankoppa; HPS Maradgi and GFS Maradgi.

Deworming tablets were given to children by teachers during distribution sessions, which was also organised at these schools on the same day, to make the campaign successful and ensure coverage of all children attending these schools.