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Shocking data reveals bachelors among worst hit jiggers menace


Kenya’s top anti-jiggers campaigner has revealed that emerging statistics indicate bachelors are worst affected by jiggers after children.

Speaking to journalists in Lamu at the weekend, Ahadi Kenya Trust chief executive officer Mr Stanley Kamau said statistics show that very few married men suffer from jiggers compared to their unmarried counterparts.

BACHELORS SHOULD MARRY

In his proposed remedy, Mr Kamau said eligible bachelors should marry so as to reduce jigger infestation.

“You will find out that mostly 60 per cent of the individuals affected by jiggers in every population are children. However, male adult bachelors take almost 70 per cent share of the remaining 40 per cent on jigger infestation.

“We have also discovered that women rarely suffer from jiggers in most of the vulnerable areas known,” said Mr Kamau.

He added: “The same way, it’s hard to find a married man with jiggers. It’s time for men to marry so as to survive and escape jiggers.”

The Ahadi Kenya Trust boss appealed to all those affected by jiggers to embrace healthy treatment methods and desist from using pins and other paraphernalia to pull out the jiggers.

PAIN

He said the method only inflicts pain and does not bring out the jiggers.

He said using pins is also risky and that on many occasion it has been cited as a contributing factor to the spread of HIV andAIDS.

“It is high time that people stop using pins and instead embrace a pin-less and painless method including the use of disinfectants when dealing with jiggers. A HIV positive mother who uses a pin and uses the same on her children can easily transmit the HIV virus to them. It’s unsafe and unhealthy,” said Mr Kamu.

He said Ahadi Kenya was working closely with the national government and counties to reduce jigger infestation by over 50 per cent come 2017.