On the 1st to 7th October 2023, JICA-NUITM and the Ministry of Health -Homabay County began a journey to Kwale and Nairobi.
On 3rd October, we had a meeting with Kwale MOH with the main objectives as follows;
- To conduct an exchange visit and learn from the Kwale team about jigger’s diagnosis, treatment, and prevention.
- To learn the treatments used by the Kwale team and their effectiveness.
- To learn how they are conducting activities for jiggers control.
Our project “Sustainable tungiasis project in Homa Bay County” having done a lot of surveillance, health promotion activities, and capacity building, thought of an exchange program as one of the most ideal ways of developing support mechanisms as the county and all the stakeholders can think about sustainability.
The exchange visit was very interactive, the team met the Kwale team and had a meeting where the discussions on diagnosis, treatment, and prevention dominated.
Homabay team could see the determination among the CHVs especially from the Matuga sub-county, any partner does not support them, yet they have embraced jiggers as their problem and are ready to control/eradicate the menace.
The Kwale CHVs even have schedules where they voluntarily conduct Action and Dialogue days with the help of PHOs and CHAs
Kwale MOH uses jigger solution-Jabex*/Coconut oil done frequently or daily
*Composition: Plenyl Benzcate, Quarternary Ammonium, Compound, and Monopropylene Glycol
On 4th October, we had the school and household visits.
Healthcare education done to everyone in the community
The team visited the 2 schools, Bakahanga and Magombani primary schools, and we did the health talk and treated 75 pupils. Household visits were also conducted, and 15 patients were treated at the household level.
