Johnson & Johnson - Index

Johnson & Johnson - contribution - Index

PREVENTING DISEASES & REDUCING STIGMA
PEOPLE, PARTNERS, PASSION
Children Without Worms
Globally, more than 400 million children are affected by soil-transmitted
helminthes (STH), commonly known as intestinal worms. Many
impoverished communities heavily affected by the disease do not have
access to medicines for treatment or hygiene education and improved
sanitation for prevention.
Widely found in tropical and subtropical areas, STH can be
transmitted through food or penetration through the skin.
General symptoms include diarrhea, tiredness, abdominal
swelling, and frequent pains. In children, STH can lead
to malnutrition, increased susceptibility to other serious
infections, stunted growth, reduced school attendance and
performance and, ultimately, decreased productivity as
adults. In severe cases, STH can lead to death.
In response to this great need for treatment,
Johnson & Johnson partnered with the Task Force for
Child Survival and Development to create Children
Without Worms, a multi-regional, produce-to-give initiative
to donate up to 50 million doses of the STH medication,
mebendazole, to infected children. Mebendazole is manufactured
by Janssen-Cilag, one of the Company’s pharmaceutical
affiliates. In addition to providing treatments to
infected children, the program strives to promote hygiene
education and improved sanitation to prevent infection.
“STH robs children of healthy nutrients that help
them grow and thrive and be productive citizens of their
community,” says Kim Koporc, associate director of
Children Without Worms. “We launched Children Without
Worms in Cameroon, and now four million school-aged
children nationwide are benefiting from treatment – a
twenty-fold increase from the previous year.”
The success of Children Without Worms in Cameroon
stems from a coordinated effort with Cameroon’s Ministry
of Public Health and Ministry of Education, the World
Health Organization, and other development partners.
“It is important to get people to understand how the
disease is transmitted and how they can avoid and stop it,”
says Professor Louis-Albert Tchuem Tchuenté, the national
coordinator of the National Program for the Control of
Schistosomiasis and STH in Cameroon. “They should
understand their responsibility in the maintenance of
Above: Child who has benefited from the Children Without Worms program. Right: Children in Cameroon receive education on
treating and preventing intestinal worms. Four million school-aged children nationwide received mebendazole treatment.
14 JOHNSON & JOHNSON 2007 WORLDWIDE CONTRIBUTIONS PROGRAM ANNUAL REPORT