On the 6th of October 2023, the team from Kwale conveyed a meeting at the Nairobi Afya annex to meet the Division for Vector-borne and Neglected Tropical Diseases (DVB-NTD), Division of Environmental Health, and JICA representative.
The main objective of this meeting was to;
- To give feedback on the Kwale exchange visit
- To interact with the National team (DVB-NTD and Environmental Health)
- To discuss a way forward on Jiggers control and eradication.
Dr. Omondi-Head of DVB-NTD began by giving an opening remark. The presentations were done on the jigger’s situation by JICA-NUITM, MOH-Homabay county, and Ms. Lilian Ouso-Division of Environmental Health.
The sessions were interactive with lots of experiences shared by the CHPs, CHAs, and Sub-county and county personnel from Homabay County.
The Kwale team also got to talk about their efforts towards eradicating the menace, it was evident that the CHPs are very dedicated to this despite the lack of support from any partner.
Way forward
- Behavior change communication among residents, and WASH activities that complete other hygiene issues.
- Advocating jiggers and coming up with key messages on control and eradication.
- Focus on interventions that do not require medication i.e. prevention and measures.
- Review of Jiggers Guideline 2016
- Prioritization of public health problems in terms of annual work plans and budgeting.
- Uptake and complement data received at community levels thus need for a standardised reporting tool
- Collaboration with partners i.e. KEMRI-Welcome trust, ICIPE, JICA-NUITM,
Mr. Elijah Kinyangi-JICA representative also gave constructive comments to each sectors: National MOH, Homa Bay Couty, and NUITM.
