Busia County Director for Promotive and Preventive Health, Dr. David Mukabi has urged residents who registered as beneficiaries of mosquito nets to come out and collect them on Saturday as the mass distribution exercise comes to an end.
Speaking to the press after a stakeholders meeting on Friday, Mukabi said that the County targeted to distribute more than 770,000 mosquito nets across the County.
“This exercise has been going on and we have reached the end,” he said, adding that the exercise was supposed to end officially on Thursday but they have only managed to reach 96% of the registered beneficiaries.
He added that there was need to reach out to the remaining 4% and the National Malaria control has allowed them to extend the exercise up to Saturday evening. “We want to urge those who registered but have not received the mosquito nets to take advantage of the grace period and pick them,” he said.
The official further urged the beneficiaries to use the nets for the intended purpose adding that a section of the residents were using the items to fence their kitchen gardens.
‘’Partners have sacrificed to assist us in getting these nets, so let us use them well,’’ he said, adding that treatment of malaria is not only costly but also interferes with economic activities and social lives.
Mukabi advised local residents to collaborate with Community Health Promoters and ensure malaria patients are treated at nearby health facilities. “Let us continue clearing bushes and draining stagnant waters near our residential areas in order to control the spread of malaria,’’ he said.
Samia Deputy County Commissioner, Joyce Onguso reiterated that local residents should use the nets for the intended purpose.
“At times you find some of the beneficiaries using the nets to fence their kitchen gardens, which is very shameful,”| she regretted.
Onguso also urged civil servants and other residents who had registered for the items to take advantage of the one day extension to get the nets.
More than 30,000 of the local residents who registered for the mass net distribution exercise have not received the items due to some technical challenges that were encountered while using the digital system of registration and distribution.
By Salome Alwanda
