Low turnout in Chwele as Govt launches free mosquito net distribution countrywide to curb malaria

Written by Daniel Saenyi

A Chwele resident is all smiles as she receives a mosquito net from a medical officer.[Photo/Daniel Wafula/WestFm]

The government has yet made another effort in helping the Kenyan citizens to live free from Malaria by giving out mosquito nets.

The giving out of nets was officially launched on Wednesday across the country.

However there was low turnout in Chwele, Bungoma County a situation attributed to it being the first day of the exercise in the area as many people had not been made aware of the exercise.

An estimated amount of 87, 246 people were registered in the whole of the Bungoma Central district with about 16 distribution centers.

Though some areas had not received nets by Wednesday evening, those places with more net supply were required to give out some to those with low supply.

According to the District Malaria Coordinator Mr. Francis Fwamba, this move is aimed at significantly reducing the infectivity rates of Malaria and it might even assert Kenya as a Malaria free country by 2012.

The nets will be distributed in that one net is allocated to two people in a family so the number of family members determines how many nets one gets.

Mr. Fwamba said that the nets being given out for children and pregnant women had already helped to bring down malaria cases in the hospital from 245 to 40 people diagnosed with malaria in the preceding two weeks.

The nets are meant to build a mosquito barrier and along side other malaria preventive drugs given to pregnant women and children. It’s warranted to bring down the infection from fifty to zero if the residents use them as per specifications.

Misuse of nets was discouraged by Mr. Fwamba as some people use the nets for other purposes as covering their seedlings from pests and even poultry.

This move by the government was obviously a major help to the residents of Chwele as most were happy to receive the free nets. Mrs. Gladys Nyambura, the first person to receive the nets said finally the government has started to serve the citizen of the country.

Malaria was a frequent thing in her family almost like a family member but now all that is about to change. The government treated nets are unlike any other nets as which are not treated and allow the mosquito to penetrate easily.