A study was undertaken to determine the impact of health education in addition to medical treatment of helminthosis among school children in Zaria. A total of 1,204 children from ages 6 to 12 years comprising 612 males and 592 females were examined. The study was conducted between March 2007 and February 2009. Faecal samples were collected from the children in 20 randomly selected primary schools. The samples were processed using the formal ether concentration techniques. Of the 1,204 children examined, 690 (57.3%) of the study population were infected with helminthes. The 690 infected pupils were de-wormed and divided into two groups comprising 345 each in a group. One group was given health education talks once every week while the other group was left without any health education talks for three months from November, 2008 to February, 2009 after which the incidence of helminthosis was determined among them. The study showed a decrease in infections from 16.8% to 2.3% among children who received health education in addition to medical treatment. This decrease was significant (t = 5.21, p < 0.05) in comparison to the decrease shown among children who did not received health education talks. This study therefore showed that educating high risk individuals played a key role in reducing the incidence and prevalence of helminthosis among primary school children.
