From August 16th to October 7th, 2021, we are conducting training on jiggers for a total of approx. 800 community health volunteers in the target areas – Suba South and Ndiwa.
In Suba South and Ndiwa, many people are suffering from jiggers. Most of these homes are inaccessible, far from the main roads.
In Kenya, there are a number of areas where health services cannot be provided by the central government staff alone due to road conditions and other reasons.
Community health assistants and community health volunteers are the local people who, on behalf of the government, shoulder the role of delivering health services to each household in such places.
During the training, the staff of the Department of Health and the Community Health Assistants (CHAs) who received the TOT training on August 11th and 12th are taking up the role of instructors.
They are training approx. 800 CHVs in Suba and Ndhiwa on the diagnosis, treatment and prevention method of jiggers, using practical demonstration. In addition, CHVs mapped out the specific locations with the highest morbidity of jiggers.
This training method is called cascade style. It is unique in that the Japanese, who are foreigners, do not instruct the local people to acquire “external knowledge”. Instead, the locals spread the knowledge among themselves and teach each other.
Jiggers is designated as Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) as a disease with insufficient support from the government and the international community.
Thanks to this training, CHVs have a clearer understanding of treatment and prevention methods for jiggers.
We have already started seeing changes in the community, as CHVs are now actively diagnosing cases in each household and treating affected people. Patients with severe cases are being encouraged by CHVs to visit a hospital.
Moving forward, each CHV will conduct home visits and baseline surveys to ascertain the specific areas with the highest prevalence of jiggers.
【Nagasaki University is implementing a sustainable jiggers control project with funding from JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency)】