On 8th to 10th June 2022 KEMRI Welcome Trust, ICIPE and JICA Nagasaki University held 3 days of tungiasis training at Afya Annex, Kenyatta National Hospital.
The training was successfully done with15 trainees from Division vector borne and neglected tropical diseases, public health and laboratory services, and environmental health.
| Day | Time | Topic | Presenters/Facilitators |
| Day 1 | 8.00-8.30 | Welcome & Introductions | Dr. Wycklif Omondi from MoH DVBNTD |
| 8.30-9.30 | Tunga biology & Epidemiology | Dr. Ulrike Fillinger from ICIPE | |
| 9.30-10.30 | Pathogenesis & Impact | Dr. Lynne Elson from Welcome Trust | |
| 10.30-11.00 | TEA BREAK | ||
| 11.00-12.00 | Treatment & Prevention | Dr. Lynne Elson | |
| 12.00-12.30 | Q&A | ||
| 12.30-1.30 | LUNCH | ||
| 1.30-2.30 | Identifying embedded fleas | Dr. Lynne Elson | |
| 2.30-3.30 | Practice identification Review/Groupwork/Posttest | Dr.Lynne Elson Ms.Kana Suzuki from JICA/Nagasaki Uni. | |
| 3.30-4.30 | SOP | Dr. Wycklif Omondi | |
| 4.30- | TEA & CLOSE | ||
| Day 2 | 8.00-8.30 | Departure *Picking people up as needed | |
| 9.00-13.00 | Travel to Field-4 schools (Muranga County) Field Visit: pilot tools, practice | Dr. Lynne Elson Ms.Kana Suzuki Dr.Ulrike Fillinger Dr.Wycklif Omondi | |
| 13.00-14.00 | LUNCH (Group lunch at the field) | ||
| 14.00-15.00 | Return to Nairobi *Droping people as needed | ||
| DAY3 | 9.00-11.00 | Field visit debrief/ Trouble shooting | Dr. Wycklif Omondi |
| 11:00 | TEA & CLOSE |
Fieldwork study in Muranga (day2)
The whole team got an opportunity to visit the 3 schools namely Njora Primary School, Kirere Primary School, and Mbogoino Primary School in Kigumo Sub-county, Muranga County.
The team examined the pupils and identified 42 pupils in the 3 schools with jiggers. With the help of the trainers, the standard operating procedures were conducted.
This included registration, feet washing, identification of embedded fleas, treatment and health talk, and capacity building of the area public health officer.
To this day
Dr. Wycliff Omondi (Head of Division vector borne and neglected tropical diseases) suggested adding tungiasis (jiggers infestation) indication to Mass Drug Administration (MDA) sheet.
This MDA activity is done by MOH and WHO annually, so it will be sustainable even after our project ends.
However, for that purpose, it is necessary to train people from MOH headquarter (Masters trainers). After this training, they could train on tungiasis in each county and CHA /CHV through the MDA.
Therefore, we did this training in collaboration with other organizations/institutions with a lot of experience in tungiasis in Kenya to conduct the capacity building of master trainers.
*What is MDA?: This is a vital tool to help control and eliminate neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). Giving treatment to an entire population or every person in a geographical area ensures that those who are infected are treated and that those who aren’t being protected from future infection.
Recommendation
• MDA (Mass drug administration) is a community-based activity that works hand in hand with community health strategy. Jigger’s indicator would be integrated in this to enable documentation and thus see the burden in up to 20 counties.
• The division of vector-borne and neglected tropical diseases would facilitate a mainstream jiggers training.
• The division would design a training manual and tool on jiggers that is short, precise, and easy to understand for the cascade training at the sub-county level.
We are looking forward to this tungiasis mapping to be included in the MDA activity, so that the neglected patients in other counties can receive intervention.
