Mount Kenya University in partnership with Partners for Care (PFC), a local NGO, has sustained an aggressive anti-jigger campaigns in Marsabit County.
According to the Ministry of Health National Policy Guidelines on Prevention and Control of Jigger Infestations, an estimated 1.4 million Kenyans suffer from jigger infestation in the country.
Speaking Dr. Peter G. Kirira, a researcher at Mount Kenya University has said that about 13,000 jiggers infested school going children and adults in Marsabit County have been treated.
He adds the treatment and eradication of jiggers reduce school absenteeism and improve the students’ performance.
” A bout 13,000 jiggers infested school going children and adults in Marsabit County have been treated for the last three years that the partnership has been happening,”he said.
According to Pastor Hirbo, a staff at Partners for Care staff office in Marsabit said that poverty has been linked to the existence of jiggers in homes.
He called on proper training on prevention, control, and monitoring which he states its important.
The stigma associated with the disease has a debilitating psychological effect on the affected. Secondary infection due to the wounds caused by the jiggers may cause life-threatening complications such as tetanus or gangrene.
Bolstered by the success of eradication of jiggers in Marsabit County, Mount Kenya University staff and students in partnership with Partners for Care have joined hands to conduct anti-jigger campaigns in Watamu, Kilifi County with a target of eliminating Tungiasis from Kilifi County by 2020.
Ms. Connie Cheren, the Director, Partners for Care International, believes that the same model that worked in Marsabit County and is now working in Kilifi County can be replicated in other Counties where jigger infestations are prevalent.