Help De-worm Haiti's Children for Mere Cents

What is the issue, problem, or challenge?

Intestinal worms can take away up to 20% of a child’s daily nutritional intake. In Haiti many children are already malnourished and cannot afford such losses. These worms cause children to suffer with abdominal cramps and diarrhea, keeping them out of school. There are currently millions of Haitians suffering from worms.

How will this project solve this problem?

A single dose of de-worming medication will rid a child of intestinal worms such as roundworms, hookworms, tapeworms and others. Once the worms are gone, the pill will protect the child for an additional four months after. The pills also prevent the spread of worms in a community. All this is at a cost of a mere fraction of a penny to produce each pill.

Potential Long Term Impact

De-worming programs have been so effective that they are listed among the recommended approaches to combating poverty in Dean Karlan and Jacob Appel’s widely acclaimed, new book, "More Than Good Intentions." They cite studies that have shown that de-worming programs can generate an extra year of education for only $3.50 per student. The next most cost effective program, uniform give-aways, costs $100 to achieve the same goal.

Project Message

...the Albendazole pills distributed by International Action... have been taken by all my children and now they do not have diarrhea anymore. Many of my neighbors make the same observation.
- Mme Madeleine Joseph, Haitian mother of three and project beneficiary