Daudi Migereko joins anti-jigger war

Oct 03, 2010

ELDERLY persons in Jinja have expressed concern over the increasing number of people infested with jiggers in Busoga region and called upon local leaders to support them in overcoming the infestation.

By Donald Kiirya

ELDERLY persons in Jinja have expressed concern over the increasing number of people infested with jiggers in Busoga region and called upon local leaders to support them in overcoming the infestation.

Hundreds of elderly persons, who marched from Jinja SS to the Jinja rugby ground, made their demands through Daudi Migereko, the government chief whip. This was during celebrations to mark the International Day of Elderly Persons on Saturday.

Migereko joins Deputy Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga who last week launched a campaign to eradicate jiggers in Busoga.

Kadaga said she was partnering with a local non-governmental organisation to distribute drugs and sensitise the locals on how to overcome the infestation.

According to medics, the easiest solution to the problem is to promote sanitation in the affected communities.
Jigger infestation has been reported in all the nine districts of Busoga of Jinja, Bugiri, Iganga, Kaliro, Kamuli, Mayuge, Luuka, Namutumba, and Buyende.

During the celebrations, which were organised by Phoebe Education Fund for AIDS Orphans and Vulnerable Children, several speakers appealed to the Government to rescue the population from the jiggers.

Eunike Kisambu, 60, commended the Government for initiating the Universal Primary Education (UPE) programme.

She, however, said jiggers had affected their childrens’ performance at school because some of them fail to walk the long distances. Jiggers also hamper peoples’ economic productivity, she noted.

Florence Nabirye, 60, a resident of Butiki, Kyekidde in Jinja, disclosed that they were also infested with bed bugs.
She appealed for the establishment of a health centre in Butiki parish.

“We request the Government to come to our rescue and build one so that we are saved from trekking long distances to Ivunamba and Buwenda parishes for medication, ”she said.

Jennifer Auma, 42, confessed having two grand children infested with jiggers, adding that the medicine to cure the fleas was expensive.

 “A small bottle of GV solution to kill jiggers goes for between sh700 to 800. Where shall we get the money? We do not have income-generating projects and some of our crops are being attacked by diseases,” Auma said.

Migereko, who said Busoga region had lately been labeled as a factory of jiggers, advised the elders to use paraffin to fight the blood-sucking fleas in their homes.

“If one has jiggers, pour paraffin in a basin then soak the affected legs and hands into it. All the fleas will die,” he said. But there was no doctor to assure the people that using paraffin was safe.
Migereko discouraged the elders against using safety pins to pluck out the fleas, saying this leaves behind painful wounds.

Justine Ojambo, the director for Phoebe Education Fund for AIDS Orphans and Vulnerable Children programme, said the organisation would soon start constructing low-cost houses for elderly persons in Jinja district.

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