Kisii Governor Simba Arati has embarked on the mass distribution of treated mosquito nets at Egetuki in the Bomachoge Chache constituency.
“Today I am happy to preside over the launch of mass distribution of treated mosquito nets in the county. This is an important exercise in the fight against the killer malaria and other vector-borne diseases,” Arati said.
The Governor appealed to the public to support the government initiatives in the fight against malaria, further advising the residents to keep their compounds clean and always sleep inside the nets to protect themselves from the disease.
“I urge our people to use the bed nets appropriately and avoid using them to fence kitchen gardens but keep them in the wardrobe when not in use,” Simba added.
According to the Governor, the county received a total of 941,368 nets that would be distributed across nine constituencies.
Michael Oyunge, Gucha sub-county public health officer says, this is a nationally supported programme that is being funded by Global Fund through the national malaria control program in the Ministry of Health in partnership with the county government of Kisii.
The exercise in the Gucha sub-county commenced with the registration of households, where a team of community health frontiers registered a total population of 176,984 out of 30,142 households.
Oyunge says according to the national strategic programme on malaria mass net distribution, the nets are distributed at a ratio of two members in a household per net. This will see a total of 81,857 nets issued across the Gucha sub-county.
The whole programme, different from the past, is now running digitally, starting with registration to the distribution of nets. A household head presents themselves to the selected net issuing post with a national identification card and the phone numbers they used during registration. Oyunge further notes that phone numbers are crucial since household heads receive notifications about the exercise.
“There are some isolated cases where we get some people registered and their names or identification details are missing, but we are liaising with the information and technology department from the Ministry of Health headquarters to ensure that their names are listed in the master roll of net distribution,” Oyunge added.
Four health workers are assigned at every distribution center to do verification before one receives the mosquito nets.
The process, which kicked off on Wednesday, January 24, 2024, has seen up to 54 percent of the households receive nets in the Gucha sub-county to date.
By Charles Onkui
