{"id":142673,"date":"2026-05-31T06:02:45","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T06:02:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/the-heroes-behind-fight-against-ntds-in-bungoma\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T06:02:45","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T06:02:45","slug":"the-heroes-behind-fight-against-ntds-in-bungoma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/the-heroes-behind-fight-against-ntds-in-bungoma\/","title":{"rendered":"The heroes behind fight against NTDs in Bungoma"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fouzia Rashid, a primary teacher from West Sang\u2019alo Ward, Kanduyi constituency, Bungoma County and her husband had carefully planned their future around raising three children while building a stable life together.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The 34-year-old mother of three children, aged 13, 7, and 5 years, however, began to desire one more child, a decision her husband fully supported.<\/p>\n

What followed was a frustrating journey that would expose not only the hidden burden of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) in Western Kenya, but also the critical role that Community Health Promoters (CHPs) now play in transforming lives through door-to-door health education, mass drug administration, and the promotion of proper sanitation and hygiene.<\/p>\n

Months passed without conception. Then two years. Concerned and desperate for answers, Fouzia sought medical help, hoping doctors would identify the problem.<\/p>\n

As frustration mounted within the family, she turned to traditional remedies, hoping for a breakthrough. Instead, her condition worsened. She began experiencing persistent abdominal pain and occasional bleeding while passing urine. The symptoms were mistaken for a sexually transmitted infection, leading to treatment that offered no relief.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was stressed and confused because every treatment I received seemed to fail. There was strife in my home,\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n

The overlooked diseases<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ironically, during the same time, the community-wide Mass Drug Administration (MDA) campaigns targeting Soil-Transmitted Helminthiases (Intestinal worms popularly known as Minyoo) and Schistosomiasis (Bilharzia) were ongoing in her area, which is an endemic zone.<\/p>\n

The CHPs moved from house to house distributing praziquantel tablets for Bilharzia and dewormers for STH, while at the same time educating residents on how safe water, handwashing, and proper sanitation are critical in the prevention of the diseases associated with the poor and had for years received minimal attention and funding.<\/p>\n

However, Fouzia showed little interest in the drive. She repeatedly dismissed advice from Linet Nanjala, the area CHP, who suspected she could be suffering from urinary bilharzia, a disease known to affect the reproductive area, including causing temporary infertility for both men and women, among other symptoms if left untreated.<\/p>\n

Fouzia at her home<\/p>\n

Bilharzia is transmitted by parasitic worms shed through urine and human waste from an infected person, contaminating water bodies such as ponds, rivers, springs, wells and dams.<\/p>\n

One of the rivers in West Sang\u2019alo<\/p>\n

With persuasion, the teacher finally overcame fear perpetuated by misformation and agreed to take the medication during the first and second rounds of the drug distribution exercises, a decision that changed her life.<\/p>\n

Within months, the abdominal pain disappeared. The bleeding stopped. Slowly, her health improved. Then, in November, came the news she had almost given up hope for \u2014 she was pregnant.<\/p>\n

Today, Fouzia is seven months pregnant and preparing to welcome her fourth child. For her, the intervention did more than restore health. It changed perspectives and long-standing behaviours that expose communities to preventable health risks.<\/p>\n

Breaking the silence of shame<\/strong><\/p>\n

As you traverse the ward, the prevalence of mud houses and families living in deep poverty makes building a modern toilet a tall order. A few kilometres away from Fouzia\u2019s sits the home of Catherine Wambiya, a widow whose long story of pain, shame, and silence also has a happy ending thanks to persistent sensitisation.<\/p>\n\n

For years, the widow had lived with persistent abdominal pain, unexplained fatigue, swelling, and occasional bleeding that she describes as shameful to talk about, considering her advanced years. She avoided the mass drug treatments, arguing they were for children due to their careless hygiene habits and also widespread myths surrounding a disease she knew nothing about.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had heard that when you swallow the medicines, you will fall and die, so I was scared. But my swollen tummy and bleeding scared me even more. As is the habit here, I went for the Maasai traditional medicine popular in the area,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Little did she know that the answer to her condition lay in the MDA rounds she had ignored since 2021 and the persistent advice drummed into her by the CHP to build a pit latrine, treat her drinking water, and practise proper hygiene to keep diseases at bay.<\/p>\n

Linet Nanjala- a CHP<\/p>\n

Despite pocketed episodes of hostility from a section of residents resisting change, the CHPs never gave up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI followed the instructions, ate well, swallowed the tablets, and the rest is history,\u201d Catherine says with a smile. \u201cIt is the best thing that has ever happened to me. When the drugs are taken properly on a full stomach,\u00a0 there are no serious side effects. I am healed\u201d, \u00a0she adds exuberantly.<\/p>\n

Today, Wambiya has become one of the community champions. Equipped with knowledge that poor sanitation fuels the spread of diseases, she now volunteers to clean toilets in churches and encourages families in her village to use clean, safe water, build toilets, and maintain proper sanitation and hygiene as preventive measures.<\/p>\n

Catherine cleaning toilets<\/p>\n

For Linet and Josephat Nabiswa, a fellow CHP in the neighbouring Bulondo township, the greatest joy comes when they witness real change in the communities they serve, when families that once feared treatment now embrace it, when homes that lacked toilets begin prioritising sanitation, and when patients who suffered in silence regain their health and hope.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the biggest challenges is changing long-held beliefs and habits in the community. But when you finally see a family embrace treatment, build a toilet, or regain their health, that is the greatest reward for us as CHPs\u201d, Nanjala says.<\/p>\n

With raised awareness, the residents have joined forces to ensure they have access to clean water. Dennis Wanyama, another champion for WASH initiatives, is driving the change through the protection of Wabulitiah water spring, which is the primary source of water for households in the West Sang\u2019alo.<\/p>\n

Dennis Wanyama<\/p>\n

\u201cThe push came when my family members started falling ill, and when I went to Bulondo health centre, I was shocked at the number of people with the same ailment and children vomiting worms. Upon talking to the doctors, they told me the conditions are exacerbated by unsafe water and lack of toilets\u201d, he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom that information, I knew I had to do something. I have since been actively engaging locals, leveraging community dialogues, door-to-door visits to educate about NTDs and hygiene practices even in schools\u201d, he says.<\/p>\n

St. Paul\u2019s Siangwe is one of the 11 schools in Bungoma using murals on WASH and NTDs<\/p>\n

The road to 2027 elimination<\/strong><\/p>\n

Schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminths remain among the most common NTDs in Western Kenya, particularly in Bungoma\u2019s 17 endemic wards.<\/p>\n

A baseline mapping survey conducted in 2021 recorded prevalence rates of 7 per cent for intestinal worms and 4.7 per cent for bilharzia.<\/p>\n

The findings triggered intensified interventions by the Ministry of Health, county governments, and partners, including Amref Health Africa, The END Fund, African Institute for Health and Development, Wash Alliance Kenya, and the Global Alliance for NTDs Elimination-Kenya.<\/p>\n

Five years later, beyond the mass drugs, the breakthrough has come from WASH initiatives and social behavioural change largely driven by CHPs and diverse change agents drawn from all sectors within the communities.<\/p>\n

According to County NTD Coordinator Dr Robert Wetoto, Kenya is on course to eliminate the NTDs by 2027, ahead of the 2030 official World Health Organization (WHO) goal to reduce infections to less than 2pc.<\/p>\n

Bungoma NTD Coordinator Dr Robert Wetoto<\/p>\n

He reveals the impact has been significant. The latest baseline survey indicates Bungoma County has maintained zero prevalence rates for both diseases since 2023.<\/p>\n

However, challenges remain. West Singal\u2019o Ward recently reported a resurgence of intestinal worms after a temporary stock-out of dewormers for the CHPs who had been supplementing treatment under the Universal Health Coverage programme.<\/p>\n

Heavy rains also destroyed several pit latrines, reducing sanitation coverage and increasing exposure to infection.<\/p>\n

To address the gaps, the county government has integrated NTD treatment into primary healthcare services, ensuring that deworming and bilharzia treatment are administered to patients seeking services across all health facilities.<\/p>\n

Wetoto says strengthening the \u201ctest and treat\u201d approach is now critical in sustaining progress.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone walking into our health facilities with a condition that does not directly suggest worm infection or bilharzia must be tested. We cannot reach elimination when we don\u2019t address the issues of test and treat. \u00a0We have also equipped our facilities with the reagents for testing, \u201c he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a comprehensive strategy aimed at ensuring we know where we are and what to treat. This is definitely accompanied by surveillance,\u201d Wetoto says.<\/p>\n

He decries that some infections are often misdiagnosed because symptoms such as blood in urine are mistaken for sexually transmitted infections.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe parasites can survive in the body for more than 30 years if untreated. We have asked our clinicians to test bilharzia before administering STI treatment,\u201d he warns.<\/p>\n

At the same time, county governments are collaborating with water and sanitation departments to improve access to clean water through boreholes, spring protection, piped water systems, and sanitation programmes.<\/p>\n

Working quietly in villages, often on foot and with limited resources, the CHPs momentum and the communities\u2019 positive shift cannot be overlooked in the accelerated progress towards elimination.<\/p>\n

For women like Fouzia and Catherine, their persistence changed lives.<\/p>\n

One regained hope of motherhood. The other found healing after years of silent suffering.<\/p>\n

And across Bungoma County, their stories are becoming symbols of a larger transformation, where action, trust, effective drug administration, community health education and social behavioural change can combat diseases that once thrived in silence.<\/p>\n

Explainer on Bilharzia and Intestinal Worms<\/strong><\/p>\n

Explainer: Soil-transmitted helminths (STH)\u2014such as hookworms, roundworms, and pinworms\u2014are parasitic worms that spread through contaminated soil in areas with poor sanitation<\/span>. The infections are most commonly contracted by walking barefoot through soil or contaminated food and water with human waste.<\/p>\n

Schistosomiasis is transmitted when urine or faeces from an infected person contaminate water sources. Freshwater snails act as intermediate hosts, releasing microscopic parasites into the water. People in contact with unsafe water become infected when these parasites penetrate the skin during activities such as farming, fishing, bathing, swimming, or washing clothes.<\/p>\n

Wetota explains that when the eggs lodge in the genital tract, they cause a form of the disease called genital schistosomiasis, while those in the blood vessels lining the intestines cause intestinal bilharzia.<\/p>\n

Key Symptoms include persistent abdominal pains, blood-stained stool or urine, fatigue, anaemia, while in advanced stages it causes enlargement of either the liver or the kidney.<\/p>\n

For the worms,\u00a0 symptoms include fatigue, anaemia, especially hookworms when they multiply in the gut, malnutrition in children, a distended belly and bloating and severe cases of i<\/span>ntestinal obstruction requiring surgery.<\/p>\n

The post The heroes behind fight against NTDs in Bungoma<\/a> appeared first on KBC Digital<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fouzia Rashid, a primary teacher from West Sang\u2019alo Ward, Kanduyi constituency, Bungoma County and her husband had carefully planned their future around raising three children while building a stable life together.\u00a0 The 34-year-old mother of three children, aged 13, 7, and 5 years, however, began to desire one more child, a decision her husband fully […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-142673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142673\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}