Health Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki has received a WHO certificate declaring Kenya
free of Guinea worm infections.
A team from the World Health Organization, after an evaluation in February, said there was no evidence of its transmission in the past three years.
Tedros Adhanom, WHO Director General, made the announcement following the recommendation by the review team.
The International Commission for the Certification of the Dracunculiasis Eradication (ICCDE) presented the findings at a meeting in Geneva.
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During the presentation of the certificate in Nairobi on Thursday, Kariuki hoped for better things to come.
Kenya is the 41st country in the African region to be certified by the WHO as free of Guinea worm disease.
Guinea-worm disease, or dracunculiasis, is a crippling parasitic infection caused by a long, thread-like worm.
It is exclusively
transmitted when people drink stagnant water contaminated with parasite-infected fleas.
Once inside the body, the larvae can mature into worms that grow up to a metre in length.
At least six countries in African are yet to be declared Guinea worm-free.
They are Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, South Sudan, Chad, and Ethiopia.
