Titus Oteba –Communication Officer
Parents whose Children have suffered from neglected and tropical diseases (NTD) have narrated healing from the diseases courtesy of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in Bungoma county.
Majority residents in 22 wards out of 45 in Bungoma County have in the past been affected with intestinal worms and bilharzia with the leading being Maraka ward in Webuye East Sub County, Sang’alo East and West wards in Kanduyi constituency and Naitiri/Kabuyefwe ward in Tongaren constituency.
Crest Misanya (25) from Khaweli village in Sang’alo East Ward and whose daughter was operated for intestinal worms obstruction
A visit to Khaweli village in Sang’alo East Ward, we meet Mr.Leonard Wanjala and his Crest Misanya (25) who had to pass through hell to save their 7 years daughter who suffered from intestinal worms.
Misanya says that their daughter fell ill in early 2023 but they had no idea of what she was suffering from.
“We bought drugs over the counter and administered it on our daughter who was complaining of severe headache, stomaches, vomiting and lack of appetite, we administered the drugs without finding the cause of the disease,” she narrated.
Misanya went on, “One day the disease became unbearable, our daughter fainted forcing us to rush her to Bungoma County Referral Hospital which is over 25 kilometers away, when we were almost reaching there she regained unconsciousness then vomited worms, something we didn’t expect,”.
Reaching the hospital everything including the stool and blood samples were taken to the lab which later established that she was suffering from intestinal worms infestation which meant that she was to undergo an operation because worms had caused intestinal obstruction and they needed to be removed completely to save her life.
After the successful operation they were discharged and al
lowed to go back home where a trained WASH agents and CHP coordinator Metrine Wanyonyi now came in handy to offer her services.
“After Community Health Promoters coordinator sensitizing us about the issue of maintaining cleanliness within our homes, we have seen an improvement and we nolonger experience sickness in our midst,” said the victim’s father.
Mr.Wanyonyi said that they are now administering drugs against intestinal worms and bilharzia courtesy of the county government health department, NTD and WASH and are also treating water for use.
“I handle 100 homesteads within my jurisdiction, I walk in almost all homes to sensitize community members about cleanliness, I also use Chief, Sub Chief and or school meetings to sensitize communities about cleanliness to avoid contracting such diseases,” she said.
Robert Wetoto, the Neglected and Tropical Diseases County Coordinator stated the causes of intestinal worms and bilharzia categorizing them among the tropical and neglected diseases and which are deadly in nature if not handled on time.
He advised members of the public to adhere to the given instructions to avoid contracting the said diseases.
“They are deadly in nature and can be contracted through poor sanitation, we need to adhere to all sanitation protocols to avoid them by all costs, there medicines are very expensive and not manufactured in the country,” he stated.
A visit to Huruma central village, in Sirakaru Sub -Location, Kabuyefwe location, Naitiri/Kabuyefwe ward in Tongaren Sub County on a fact finding my mission, we meet Paul Watea and his wife Diane Milimo who have just dug a new pit latrine to help minimize tropical diseases.
The newly Weds were previously using the family pit latrine which proved difficult for Paul’s wife in sharing the same toilet with the father in law.
Diane says that she was forced to visit the neighbors pit latrine or the sugarcane plantation whenever she was pressed to avoid meeting her Father in-law.
“But since we were educated by the wash agent, we decided to dig our own pit latrine and clean our compound to avoid contracting the disease which could be very costly on our part considering our poor background,” she said.
Paul lauded WASH agents, county public health department, NTD and the CHP coordinator for sensitizing them to understand the issue of cleanliness which put diseases at bay.
“As a family we are very happy, we have managed to observe all the cleanliness protocols and do far no single incident has been reported so far,” he said.
In the close neighborhood of Ndengelwa village within the same ward, we meet Mrs.Anne Ogeno, a single mother of two, she narrated the challenges she has passed through for over 15 years of lacking a pit latrine.
“I have suffered, I used to visit the neighbors sanitation facility whenever I was pressed, it reached a place I became a laughing stalk, fortunately our CHP coordinator Madam Agnetta Masika came on time and educated me on importance of having a toilet, that is why I had to construct one,” she said.
Apart from using from using her own pit latrine she also treats water for use with chlorine to stop contracting intestinal worms and bilharzia.
Agnetta walks house to house to sensitize residents about maintaining proper sanitation to stop contracting neglected and tropical diseases (NTD).
Calistus Simiyu -Change agent from Nairobi called on residents to observe sanitation in their daily works so that they avoid contracting such diseases.
Mr. Micah Nyairo, the County Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) coordinator called on residents to be worry of their sanitation and hygiene to beat neglected and tropical diseases.
“Through construction of pit latrines and the general observation of health matters we can be able to eliminate intestinal worms and bilharzia diseases,” he said.
Nyairo highlighted some of the measures to be observed to avoid contracting the deadly disease as including digging of pit latrines, having hand washing containers in their sanitation facilities, digging of the compost pits, having a kitchen, kitchen garden to help the family reduce malnutrition, a clean bed room and a clean dish rack to sterile utensils in the Sun.
“This are sone of the demonstrations of a health household which must be observed all the times to reduce contracting neglected and tropical diseases (NTD),” said Nyairo.
