Residents who fail to use the long-lasting treated mosquito nets for the proper purpose risk arrest and prosecution, Narok County Assembly Health Committee chairman Joseph Koech has said.

Koech said the process of distributing the nets was digital, hence very easy to account for every net given, saying any piece that gets lost will attract investigations.

‘If one is found having diverted the nets to other persons who are not registered or use it for other purposes not intended, he or she will face the full force of the law,’ he said.

Koech spoke in the presence of State Department for Public Health and Professional Standards Principal Secretary Mary Muriuki during the flagging off of 759, 105 long-lasting treated mosquito nets in Narok.

‘I heard some people say that the net distribution exercise is a small thing. This is a major activity, as this tiny animal called a’mosquito’ has killed our people and negatively affected the economy,’ he said.

The Director General of Preventive and Promotive Health Ser
vices, Dr. Joseph Lenei, reiterated similar sentiments, saying that in a month’s time, officials from the Global Fund will tour the 22 counties that have benefited from the nets to ascertain that they are being used for the intended purpose.

‘The Global Fund officials will be here soon; they will move from house to house where the nets were given to ascertain if they were utilised well. In case the nets are not being used for the right purpose, we as a country will lose the marks,’ he said.

Dr. Lenei, who is also the chairman of the National Steering Committee for net distribution, said already the nets have been given to 19 out of the 22 counties that are malaria-prone.

He underscored that the exercise is moving smoothly and in a transparent manner because of digitalising the process.

Source: Kenya News Agency