Parasitic worms infestations take away 1/3 of a child’s nutrition, and those children whose bellies are bloated are gravely ill and usually die; they must be treated in a hospital. Albendazole is prescribed to be taken by mouth every six months – it will kill all the worms and parasites.
Albendazole treats a variety of parasitic worm infestations: trichuriasis, giardiasis, tape worm infections such as neurocysticercosis and hydatid, as well as filariasis, pinworm disease, ascariasis and others.
The Worm Project, which is a part of the Franconia Mennonite Conference in Franconia, PA USA, partners with a missionary firm in Amsterdam, Netherlands that manufactures albendazole for about 2 cents a pill. The company ships hundreds of thousands of pills all over the world.
Hospitals and clinics order and pay for the worm pills through the Mennonite Conference, who in turn directs the medication to be sent from Amsterdam to the Firestone Medical Center in Margibi, Liberia, duty free. The hospital accepts all shipment of pills for all hospitals and clinics.
Because Firestone Medical Center accepts the abendazole shipments through customs, the Mennonite Worm Project includes some free deworming medication for the Firestone Plantation in Africa in return for their kindness to various mission hospitals and clinics.
Dr. Hena then goes to Firestone to pick up the medication for the Waterfield Primary Health Care Center (WPHCC), and then her staff distributes the worm pills to children in multiple communities surrounding WPHCC in KaKata, Liberia. (See the stats of worm pill distribution under Reports)
Marcella Ruch, a HWHL Board member, was involved with the worm ministry for HWLH for 8 years before she surrendered her work to the Western Pennsylvania churches in the US under the leadership of Jerome Kennedy, a HWHL Board member and United Methodist Church pastor.
Monies for the Worm project are usually donated by churches, as well as individuals. The pill costs 2 cents apiece and there are 5000 in a box. Consider ear-marking your donations for the Waterfield Primary Care Clinic in Kakata, Liberia.
This post is from an interview with Marcella Ruch, Board member and former Director of the Worm Project for HWHL.
