Kisumu Governor Anyang Nyong’o wants fellow governors in the 47 counties to include Neglected Tropical Diseases in their funding plans.
Nyong’o said NTDs do not have to be neglected any more because, to fulfill the targets for elimination, they require multi-sectoral engagements.
According to the governor, in Kenya, the most common NTDs, are endemic in 26 out of the 47 counties .
Out of the 20 NTDs listed by WHO, 16 have been reported in Kenya.
Of the 16 reported in Kenya, bilharzia, intestinal worms, rabies, jiggers, snakebites, scabies and other ectoparasites are endemic in Kisumu County.
Nyong’o, said the list of countries affected by these neglected diseases continue to grow hence the need to mount a multi-sectoral response.
These diseases, the governor noted, are prevalent yet they receive very little funding from governments and partners alike.
“ In fact, they are almost entirely absent from the global health agenda and at the community level are associated with vulnerable persons, stigma and social exclusion," he said.
Kisumu contributes to the 1.7 billion people worldwide who are suffering from NTDs despite the major strides that have been made in healthcare service delivery, he said.
“Therefore it is in the interest of my leadership to address this through prioritization of NTDs and resource mobilization. Kisumu County accepts the rallying call to invest in the fight against NTDs through a wholistic and all inclusive approach”
In December 2022, Nyong’o said the county diagnosed bilharzia in a community in Nyando and swiftly commenced them on treatment.
“Based on this experience, we anticipate to roll out Mass Drug Administration later in the year once we receive the results of a survey we conducted in partnership with the National MOH," he said.
For a start, he said, they will conduct a medical outreach focused on NTDs like bilharzia, intestinal worms, jiggers and other target diseases.
“I take this opportunity to most sincerely thank the Ministry of Health’s Division of Vector Borne Diseases who will partner with us in Mass Drug Administration in the affected areas and extend the services to 5 counties in the lake region, including Homabay, Kisumu, Siaya, Migori and Busia in March this year”.
A survey supported by the African Institute for Health and Development and funded by the END Fund, CIFF and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will be conducted to document the prevalence of bilharzia in the lake region.
The findings of this survey will inform on interventions to all the affected people including; children, youths, women and men.
“If this survey is conducted successfully for 5 years, we will be able to quantify the burden of NTDs in the region, implement very specific interventions and contribute to the elimination of NTDS,”he said.
