Nyamira County has digitized the Mass Insecticide Treated Nets (ITN) distribution programme in a bid to ensure every targeted household benefits from this programme.
Ms. Christine Wayua, an officer from national malaria programme when sensitizing Nyamira county stakeholders on the new mode of mass ITN distribution programme clarified that the mode of ITN distribution has been changed this time because of various gaps observed over time when the ITNs were distributed manually in previous programmes and failed to fully meet the intended objective.
“During the previous mass ITN distribution programme which we have been undertaking manually, some residents from most deserving households missed out, some households were given more than they needed depending on how conversant they were with the distributing officer, a good number were left undistributed thus stored unused and unaccounted for at the end of the exercise,” said Wayua
“It is against this backdrop that the national malaria programme has changed the mode of mass distribution of ITNs to residents this time round to portray a true picture of the county’s need, nature and number of beneficiaries, and most importantly emphasis on ITNs’ proper use so that we can protect our residents from contracting Malaria, one of top killer diseases not just in Kenya but the entire Africa,” Wanyua explained.
Nyamira acting County Executive Committee Member (CECM) for health, Benard Maina noted that the just released 2022 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS) ranked Nyamira highest at 94 percent in ITN ownership with at least 1 ITN in each household but the same survey however revealed a worrying trend of increase of children under the age of 5 years with recent fever who received treatment to hail from rural areas where Nyamira County belongs. He said it is a red flag which needs immediate attention as the reason for the mass ITN distribution campaign.
“We shall therefore undertake a rigorous sensitization exercise to our community members on the importance of sleeping under ITNs and their proper use the reason why we have brought you on board as key stakeholders and opinion leaders to empower our residents and sensitize them to understand the importance of preventing diseases to avoid the high-cost implications of treating malaria and other health complications associated with this life-threatening disease.” Mr. Maina stated.
The CECM who is hosting the team from National malaria programme stated that the exercise ahead was very critical and its success squarely depended on seamless coordination of all inline stakeholders for the best interest of the health of our people.
“It is one thing to distribute the nets yet another to appropriately use them in preventing ourselves from contracting the killer malaria disease. It is unfortunate that many households who receive these ITNs sometimes use them for unintended purposes like fencing their kitchen gardens to keep off chicken from eating their vegetables, constructing chick’s cages, using them as mats for drying grains on the sun and as fishing nets, some people avoid using nets because of some cultural beliefs of misfortunes associated with sleeping under ITNs, some still allege of discomfort and restlessness at night when they sleep under ITNs.” CECM Maina listed.
Ms. Wanyua outlined several preliminary activities which will be carried out before the actual mass ITN distribution to specific household commences. There is going to be sensitization of various key county stakeholders, healthcare workers, community health volunteers, village elders to ensure each of these groups of people fully understand about this activity, know specific roles and mandates in ensuring that the exercise is a success.
She said at the end of ITN distribution the national malaria programme team shall disseminate a comprehensive report on how the entire exercise was executed to clearly reveal the number of households registered, those that received the ITNs, challenges encountered during the exercise, lessons learnt and way forward to inform on subsequent programmes.
She affirmed that the National malaria programme officers were more than ready to work with Nyamira County which is the second county to implement the digitized mass ITN distribution programme after Homabay because it is classified as a malaria endemic zone in the country.
“Despite the fact that nets are given free to the community, there are partners, investors and well-wishers who are supporting and collaborating with the government and have injected their funds to ensure the programme is actualized. They are in turn interested to know the efficiency of use of their funds in assisting to eradicate malaria disease in our country.” Ms. Wayua noted.
The officer appealed to all stakeholders and programme implementers to encourage Nyamira residents to make use of the nets every night irrespective of the weather conditions and never store them because use of nets is a sure and cheapest way of preventing malaria.
The County commissioner who was representing the national administrative officers appreciated government’s commitment in fighting malaria in Kenya and promised unwavering support during the sensitization, registration and distribution of the ITNs exercise to ensure that all residents have been digitally registered and have received the nets commenting that prevention is better and cheaper than cure.
Government has changed the mass ITN distribution programme methodology from the previous manual one to a digitized one to boost efficiency, accountability, and further precisely guide accurate post mass ITN distribution surveys. This will go a long way in reliably guiding the government and other supporting partners on how to appropriately amend existing policies dealing with malaria scourge, assess the need to craft new ones, adjust in budget allocation and other relevant interventions that will make our country malaria free.
The Mass digitized ITN distribution programme in Nyamira is projected to be finalized by the end of this month.
By Deborah Bochere
