Are Homa Bay residents breeding wild animals for witchcraft?

A senior health official has pleaded with Homa Bay residents who allegedly keep wild animals in their homes for witchcraft to allow health officials to spray anti-malarial drugs in their houses.

The Chief Officer for Health in Homa Bay County Government Dr Kevin Osuri wants every resident of the county to open their doors and allow the county officials to spray the drugs for killing mosquitoes, an activity known as Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS).

The county government in collaboration with other partners who promote health contracted some officials who are undertaking indoor residual spraying in the county. The officials spray a drug in residents' houses and other structures to kill mosquitoes. This is an effort aimed at reducing the prevalence of malaria in the county.

The exercise commenced on April 12 and will proceed till May 19. But Dr Osuri has raised issues with some residents who bar the contracted health officials from accessing their homes to spray the drugs.

It is reported that some people do not want health officials to access their houses because they hide wild animals in their houses. It is alleged that they use the wild animals for witchcraft. Such animals include crocodiles and hyenas.

It is obvious that people who use supernatural powers such as witchcraft are not happy if their deeds are revealed.

Those who harbor the wild animals suspect their witchcraft can be leaked to the public if IRS officials access their houses. The persons suspect that leaking their deeds to the public will jeopardize the good relations they enjoy with their neighbours in society.

Speaking during the World Malaria Day celebrations at Kadongo Trading Center in Rachuonyo East Sub-county, Dr Osuri said they understand that some people hide wild animals in their homes.

But Osuri assured the residents that the IRS officials cannot leak secrets of what people are doing in their houses.

"There are people who hide wild animals in their homes. Our officials will not leak that information to anybody even if you are hiding a crocodile in your home," Osuri said.

Dr. Osuri said the health officials have been trained effectively on how to handle the confidentiality of the people they serve.

"Our officials are trained on how to protect people's privacy when undertaking IRS. I urge our people that nobody will leak your secrets," Osuri said.

He argued that the IRS is done free of charge to cushion residents from malaria. Therefore, residents should take advantage of the exercise.

"The IRS is done free of charge. Let our people allow the officers to spray their houses to help us keep malaria at bay in this county," Osuri said.

Apart from the IRS, Osuri said they had put other interventions in place to help curb the spread of the disease. Such interventions include plans to roll out malaria vaccination in all sub-counties in Homa Bay.

Malaria vaccination has been going on in some parts of the county on a pilot basis. But the county government in collaboration with other partners is in the process of rolling it out into all parts of the county to boost the fight against the vector-borne disease.

"We are working in collaboration with various partners to roll out the vaccination in all parts of the county. The vaccination has yielded positive results and we are going to cascade it to all parts of the county," Dr Osuri said.