A six-day special campaign to eliminate intestinal worms among children in Karachi will begin on January 5.

The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) and the Pakistan Deworming Initiative jointly held a media symposium to brief journalists about the plan.

During the media briefing, organised in collaboration with IRD, PEMRA, the World Health Organisation and the Health Department, it was stated that six million children across Karachi will receive deworming medicine between January 5 and 10.

Children aged five to fourteen, along with girls aged fifteen to eighteen, will be provided with deworming doses.

According to officials, the campaign will be carried out in government and private schools as well as through door-to-door visits, with more than ten thousand health workers participating.

PEMRA Executive Director General Muhammad Tahir said this is a sensitive public health matter and PEMRA is fully supporting efforts to spread the message through the media.

The deworming initiative stated that over the past six years, fifty million children across the country have already been provided with deworming facilities, while experts said regular deworming significantly improves children’s health and academic performance.