JIGGERS INVADE RUBANDA DISTRICT, LEAD TO SCHOOL DROP-OUT

16/07/2018
VANANSIO
A jigger infestation has been reported in Bufundi Sub County Rubanda district sending residents in panic.
The most affected area is Mushanje village in Kashasha parish Bufundi sub county Rubanda district, where residents says that children are the most affected and some of them no longer go to school.
Gad Semajeri one of the residents says the first jigger infestation was observed four years ago and fresh jigger infestation was first observed about two months ago. He attributes jigger outbreak to poor hygiene, since most of residents abandoned use cow dung to smear their houses to seal off gaps that harbor fleas that cause jiggers. He adds
that most of affected families have always abandoned community meetings intended to improve on the hygiene.
Irene Ndarisimana a mother of seven children, who are affected with jiggers, denies the jigger infestation as a result of poor hygiene and instead blames it on turning their houses into kitches.

Epaphras Ntamusore resident of Nyakabungo village says that in 2015 one woman was confirmed dead due to jiggers in the nearby Butanda sub county in Kabale district which he says that it worries them as some families in Mushanje village Bufundi Sub County have been affected.
The Director Moving Mountain Missions Uganda a nongovernmental organization, Emmanuel Anzeirwe says that they registered and helped over 40 people suffering from jiggers both in Butanda and Bufundi sub counties in Kabale and Rubanda districts respectively. He is calling on government launch a massive eradication campaign to save the
masses.
The Rubanda district Speaker Gerald Akambasa denies the reports of jiggers Mushanje village. He says that last week they monitored the area and no case of jiggers was recorded. He however says that as a
district they will to make a follow-up.