Dr. Cleopa Mailu speaking during the Guinea Worm strategic meeting.[Photo/Evans Ndege]
The International Certification Team Mission was on Wednesday in the country to assess whether Kenya can be certified to be Guinea Worm free.
Health CS Cleopa Mailu said the team led by Joel Breman will be in the country until 20th December, 2017 to assess the country’s Guinea Worm Report which was submitted to the World Health Organization in July 2016 and subsequently updated in August 2017.
Mailu has welcomed the team and pledged the government’s support during the assessment period.
“At this stage of the eradication program in Kenya, the current evaluation mission is in itself a significant milestone, after 23 years of report of the last indigenous case in the country,” said Dr. Mailu during a welcoming session at Afya House.
The CS said it will be a significant and historic public health achievement in Kenya and the world, should Kenya be declared free of Guinea worm disease following the evaluation.
Dr. Mailu also hailed the National Certification Committee and all health workers for continuous effort to scale up disease awareness and surveillance to detect and contain any imported case.
“These efforts must continue even after certification, until the whole world is declared free of the disease, more so in Kenya due to neighboring countries which are still endemic,” said Mailu.
Kenya started its long road to be certified of the disease in 1994. The last imported cases were identified and treated in 2005.