Worming Their Way To Quality

PHE: The Masville ExperienceGroup I

Worms• In 2000, the Save The Children and health

authorities of Barangay Banco Filipino in Paranaque conducted stool examination among elementary students at Masville Elementary School for intestinal worm infestation, they found that almost two-thirds or 62.7 percent had been infested.

Worms• There was nothing alarming with that. Sitio

Masville (an acronym of the communities of Manga, Aratiles and Silangan) is your typical shanty community where worm infestation is common.

Worms• In the Philippines, a study conducted last year by United

Nations Children’s Fund, the Department of Health and the UP College of Public Health showed that about 66 percent of Filipinos one to six years old suffer from worm infestation. Another study from the Department of Education found that 51.6 percent to 77.7 percent of schoolchildren suffer from worm infestation.

• Those affected suffer from stunted growth, decreased physical activity, and poor physical and mental development, so intervention among the young is crucial.

Worms• The pupils in Masville Elementary School

were dewormed and yet the result was not as dramatic as they wanted. The infestation rate went down to almost half at 49.7 percent in 2001 but it went up again to 56.1 percent, this after having 98 percent of the pupils dewormed twice yearly.

“There must be something wrong,” said

Worms• After brainstorming, they decided to test

the whole community of Masville.

Masville• Masville Homes sounds like an exclusive enclave. In

fact, it is within Barangay Banco Filipino Homes, which is one of the oldest middle-class to high-class suburb in the country.

• But Masville Homes is a very poor cousin of Barangay BF. Because of Masville, the population of the barangay ballooned to 64,728, according to the National Statistics Office survey in 2005 with a household density rate of 5.06 persons per household, the highest in Paranaque. Masville has about 7,000 households, accounting to 55 percent of the households in BF.

Masville• But most of the residents own their place,

even if they are too small and cramped for comfort.

• Barangay Health Worker Editha Ercita, who had been living here for more than 20 years, said that most of the area used to be a dump.

• “We leveled the place and made our houses,” she said.

Masville• Most of the people here earn their living as

construction workers and labanderas,” said Ercita. Which is interesting because Masville, like the rest of Barangay BF, is not connected to the Nawasa and so they buy their water from delivery trucks.

• Aratiles, a section of Masville, is lower than the rest and during the rainy season, floodwaters used to reach the waist.

• With this kind of environment, Masville is indeed a fertile ground for intestinal worms

It Takes a Community

• With their patented 4D approach (for Discovering, Dreaming, Designing and Delivering), SC and BF, with the help of Johnsons & Johnsons, decided to deworm the whole Masville.

• After discovering that the schoolchildren were easily reinfected with intestinal worms, the group decided to map the areas where heavy infection occurred. A community meeting was called and only a few initially came.

It Takes a Community

• Persuading the community was not that easy. • “When they showed the video, I was bored. I’d

rather go back to gambling,” said • After the spot maps were repeatedly shown, the

community was able to get the connection between worm infection and health and sanitation. “Healthy community for healthy children,” became their mantra.

It Takes a Community

• For , the discovery was more dramatic.

• “One time, a worm came out from the nose of one of my children,” she said.

• “I think my mother’s instinct was awakened.”

• After reattending, she became more active and volunteered to help the others.

Youth Serves• In the MES, those in the intermediate level were

trained as junior health partners to assist the teachers in the program. The JHP helped in gathering stool specimens, gave lecture on proper hand-washing, using latrines especially in public latrines and persuading their peers to wear shoes.

• In the puroks, the youth form themselves into organizations to clear the canals and clean the surroundings.

Youth Serves• Raywell Paroc, one of the volunteers, said that

his peers are not as ambitious as most Filipinos and are contented to finishing high school and settling down. But when the worm control program was brought to them, they actively participated.

• For Raywell, his participation was more personal. His father died of leptospirosis, spread by rat urine usually from floodwaters, a few years ago.

Youth Serves• Because of community involvement, or as

the Save The Children termed it, appreciative community mobilization process,” the intestinal worm infestation went down to 28 percent and finally to 17 percent.

Youth Serves• From the bottom, the achievement level of

MES rose after the deworming. From 17th, they now rank in the Top 3 in achievement level testing in the city.

Not the End of The Worm

• But the story doesn’t end there.• The mothers formed themselves into the

Samahan ng Mga Concerned Mothers. One of their projects is recycling their leftover food into compost. The compost is used for their plants which are mostly ornamental but they plan to go into vegetable gardening, if they can find an open space.

Not the End of The Worm

• The SK and the barangay government initiated a feeding program. Clarizza Caliolio, the barangay nutritionists, said that they got the most 20 undernourished among the preschool in the purok for feeding.

Not the End of The Worm

• “We feed them mongo, sopas, arroz caldo and maja kalabasa, with the mothers helping,” she said.

• “Then we teach them proper hand washing and hygiene so they won’t get worms.”

Not the End of The Worm

• Adolescent RH is another strong issue that Masville is trying to overcome.

• Carmen Cerbito, a BHW, said that they find it hard to bring down teenage pregnancy in the area.

• “We sell them contraceptives. We teach them but I see no change,” said Cerbito.

Not the End of The Worm

• Even the young are getting frustrated, some of the youth volunteers of Save The Children vowed not to get married soon but they can’t say the same for their peers.

• “Many of my friends already have families,” said Paroc. “Some didn’t even finish high school.”

Not the End of The Worm

“ If you have a will for change, you can improve your life. Look at me. Despite our being poor, I was able to put my children through school. My eldest is a nurse in Saudi,” said Ercita.

Not the End of The Worm

• “It’s not only the worms that is the problem of our children. But if we can lick that, we can do the same with our other problems,” said Cerbito.