On the 30th January 2024, NUITM-JICA joined the National Government and other stakeholders to commemorate World NTD -Day and Launch the Kenya Master plan for Elimination of Neglected Tropical Disease at Tononoka grounds, Mvita Sub-county, Mombasa County.
The theme UNITE, ACT, ELIMINATE
The event began in time for the showcase of the Lymphatic Filariasis (LF)Hydrocele procedure at Port Reitz Hospital and an LF impact assessment at Spaki Primary School spearheaded by the Mombasa County Department of Health.
Thereafter, the procedural match from the Mombasa County Public Health Department accompanied by the band, CHPs, County Government, National Government, and other stakeholders to Tononoka grounds.
There were speeches from the key stakeholders such as WHO representatives, the Expert committee, Mombasa County CEC, and the cabinet secretary representative who had key messages on;
- Encourage all sectors to come up and help in the fight against NTDs
- Acknowledge the presence of NTDs
- Guarantee the highest attainable healthcare i.e. Universal Health Coverage.
- Appeal to the county government to work toward eliminating NTDs and promote dignified livelihoods for all
- Appreciated all the partners through data management and health systems.
Launch of the Kenya Master Plan for the Elimination of Neglected Tropical Diseases -2023-2027
This launch comes at a time when the National government and other Partners are coming up strongly to provide information through surveillance and at the same time provide sustainable solutions towards control/eradication.
- NUITM-JICA we are happy to be part of this milestone and we have made initiatives on the surveillance of jiggers/Tungiasis in two sub-counties in Homabay county.
- As NUITM-JICA, we have always tried to attend these meetings whenever called upon with an emphasis on data collection to know the disease burden and inform decisions.
- During this event NUITM-JICA, we were able to interact with the 5 County NTDs coordinators i.e. Vihiga, Bungoma, Kakamega, Migori, and Homabay, we were able to get an overview of the jigger’s burden in these Counties. From these conversations, it was evident that there was a need to upscale the intervention to these counties.
- NUITM-JICA we were also able to interact with the National NTDs Monitoring and Evaluation officer, Mr. Kioko, and discussed the reporting tools and the challenges that we experience especially with the digital platform recently unveiled by the National Government.
