Kenya has become the latest country to be declared Guinea worm-free by the World health organization (WHO0.
This is after Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus accepted recommendations made by the International Commission for the Certification of Dracunculiasis Eradication (ICCDE).
Dr. Ghebreyesus who is the WHO general director signed the recommendations and declarations on February 20 in Geneva, Switzerland making Kenya the 199th country in the world to be certified as a Guinea worm-free zone.
The eradication of guinea worm makes it the second human disease to be eradicated in Kenya after smallpox.
The last country to be declared free of GW disease was Ghana in 2015.
Since its establishment in 1995 until April 2016, the ICCDE has met 11 times and certified 198 countries, territories and areas (belonging to 186 Member States) as free of dracunculiasis.
The declaration follows comprehensive evaluation done in December by the International Certification Team, ICT, which visited 21 counties including the three former endemic ones; Turkana, Uasin Gishu and West Pokot.
Dr. Rudi Eggers, WHO representative in the country said that it was a good milestone made by Kenya and should now devote the health available resources to eradicate other diseases while maintaining the GW free status.
"This is a major public health milestone for the country in that GW is certified as being no longer a disease burden for the country. While Guinea Worm surveillance has to continue until all countries of the world are declared Guinea Worm free, the resources should be increasingly directed to other diseases or health concerns,” said Dr. Eggers.
A country is declared free of GW after it has interrupted transmission and reported zero indigenous cases over a period of three calendar years after the last reported case.
The country should also have demonstrated a robust surveillance system for that period of time and improve awareness of the disease.