After nearly a decade of school-based deworming supported by Evidence Action, Cross River State in Nigeria has recorded sharp declines in intestinal worm infections.
An impact assessment conducted in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health showed that the prevalence of soil-transmitted helminth infections in Cross River has reduced by 48.5 percent, while cases of schistosomiasis have declined by 76 percent.
The results reflect the growth of Evidence Action's Deworm the World program in Nigeria, which has scaled from fewer than 500,000 children treated in its first year to more than 6.5 million children reached last year. Since 2016, Evidence Action has trained more than 32,000 health workers and teachers to support the delivery of more than 44 million deworming treatments to Nigerian children across multiple states.
The 2026 campaign is now underway, with trained health workers and teachers aiming to treat approximately five million children across Nigeria – a slightly lower figure than in previous years, which indicates progress. In states like Cross River, where infections have dropped sharply, treatment is now needed less frequently, a shift aligned with World Health Organization guidelines that frees up resources for communities where the burden remains highest.
The stakes are concrete: children heavily infected with worms struggle to concentrate in class, fall behind academically, and are more likely to miss school entirely.
"A child that is heavily infested with worms will not do well in class and sometimes may even stay away from school," said Veronica Mark, Cross River's Programme Officer for Neglected Tropical Diseases.
The state government's commitment has deepened alongside those results. Governor Otu personally invited Evidence Action to discuss an elimination strategy for neglected tropical diseases and approved a budget allocation on the spot to support the 2026 program.
"This is a major step forward in strengthening the sustainability of the deworming initiative in the state," said Toochi Ohaji, who manages Evidence Action's deworming work in Nigeria's South-South zone. "We are committed to strengthening our partnership with the state so that the gains recorded so far will continue and we can move closer to the elimination of these diseases by 2030."
