Three Kenya and Zimbabwe nationals have topped a global trypanosomiasis eradication conference.
The conference reviewed the available control measures for trypanosomiasis and made moves to adopt new innovative strategies and policies to mitigate the disease and eradicate tsetse flies and sleeping sickness illness.
The event was hosted in the city of Mombasa, Lenya and had officials, disease control scientists, workers, and top researchers from global bodies such as the World Health Organisation (WHO), African Union (AU), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Kenya’s Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries, and Co-operatives, and the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO).
25-year-old Kenyan scientist, Julia Wanjira, topped the ranking after her research poster was ranked number one.
Wanjira, a Masters Student at Jomo Kenyatta of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), had competed with a research study which sought to unravel the complexities of trypanosomiasis, popularly known as sleeping sickness, in humans and nagana in animals, which has become prevalent across boundaries.
Speaking after her poster was announced in first place above ten others, Wanjira said, “The journey has just begun,” adding that it was also a win for young girls looking to venture into the world of science which was mostly dominated by males.
“I am happy. This is the first step in this scientific field,” Wanjira said.
42-year-old Isaiah Ndaburu Kiteto and Learnmore Nyakupinda, 38, from Zimbabwe also ranked high at the trypanosomiasis global conference.
Nyakupinda, whose poster ranked second, is a Glossinologist in the Department of Tsetse Control in Zimbabwe.
Kiteto, who ranked next, is the Director for Surveillance and Control at Kenya Tsetse and Trypanosomiasis Eradication Council.
His poster was centred on the distribution of tsetse flies in Kenya’s Masai Mara ecosystem.
“This study was to advise on the control measures that were to be put into place; because if you know that tsetse flies are concentrated in a certain area, then you could concentrate the control activities in that area,” Kileto said.
Speaking earlier at the opening of the five-day conference, Kenya’s Deputy President, Rigathi Gachagua, urged the scientists to keep their focus on developing homegrown solutions for African problems.
Stakeholders from the 38 tsetse fly-infested African Union member states converged at the conference.
