WATER, they say, is life. The absence of it has sent many to early graves. But the reverse is the case for inhabitants of many villages in 14 districts within Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State. Abundance of water has become a burden to residents of the affected communities.
Maro, Idon, Iri, Tantatu, Afogoh, Kufena, Angwan Aku, Rimau, Kalla, Kyamara, Dawaki, Buda and Dusten Gaiya Districts border a river supposed to be a source of clean water for their daily use. Instead, the river breeds a black species of tsetse flies, which cause Onchocerciasis, also known as river blindness. In Iri District alone, there have been 31 new cases since 2012. This number includes people with various degrees of blindness and those who have gone completely blind, while the district had had not less than 45 blind people before 2012.
Onchocerciasis, according to experts, is also known as river blindness and Robles disease, caused by infection with the parasitic worm. Its symptoms include severe itching, bumps under the skin, and blindness. It is the second most common cause of blindness due to infection, after trachoma. A vaccine against the disease does not exist. But it can be prevented by avoiding being bitten by flies. This may include the use of insect repellent and proper clothing. Other efforts include those that could decrease the fly population by spraying insecticides.
Aside possible bites from tsetse flies, many locals in the villages of the affected districts fetch water directly and drink untreated water from the river. Hundreds of locals resident in the areas have, however, gone completely blind, while hundreds of others are gradually moving towards irredeemable blindness.
“I am 40 years old and I have lost my sight since 20 years ago,” said Markus Steven when some journalists, including our correspondent visited Makoro village in Idon District recently. Despite his 20 years in permanent darkness, the 40 years old father of four had just arrived from the farm after a hectic day.
Seated on the protruding roots of a tree in front of his house, he was surrounded by ants but their bites apparently meant nothing to him. The blind young man told our correspondent to watch out for ants, as he bent forward to hear Steven’s story.
For seven years after he had gone blind, poor Steven had no idea of what could have been responsible for the calamity. Because he knew that there were many blind people around, he took his in good faith too until 2003 when he said some white people came and told them that their proximity to Makoro River was the cause of many cases of blindness in the area.
The team’s first port of call was Iri. But until the journalists’ visit, the District Head of Iri, Mr. Peter Magaji, was not fully aware of the return of the tsetse flies. He quickly recalled that River Iri, being the name given to the part of the main river flowing through his district, was once fumigated against tsetse flies in the 1970s.
Iri is one of the areas with prevalent cases of river blindness in the local government area. Others include Ungwan Makama village in Robo and Angwan Fada and Angwan Aku in Fadama karoo, all bordering the said river.
It was gathered that River Iri is the source of the blindness in the district. According to findings, the villagers get bitten by tsetse flies carrying warms that cause river blindness whenever they go to the river to fetch water or pass through it to their farms.
Similarly, investigation revealed that in December, 2015, a student from Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria carried out a thesis research on river blindness in Angwan Fada community. He took blood samples of some residents, as well as some black flies for lab tests.
The results of the tests later indicated that the blood samples taken from the locals contained worms that cause river blindness and the black flies were carrying the worms that cause river blindness.
Our correspondent, however, observed that Iri village, which is the headquarters of the district, has few hand-pump boreholes which serve the villagers confidently during the wet season but go dry for several months of the dry season every year. The situation forces the villagers to drink from the infected river. For residents of Hayin Sarki and negbouring villages like Gida, Inkirmi, Karmai, Makoro and Gadan Malam Mamman, their case is worse, as they fetch and drinking water from the river all year round despite the risk involved.
According to the District Head of Iri, Mr. Peter Magaji, “We had the problem but your visit made us to realise the gravity of the issue. My people came out now to explain that they are going blind and we suspect the river.
“We remember that the river was fumigated years, back which helped to kill the flies. But now I hear that the flies are resurfacing, which means something urgent needs to be done about it. We are appealing to government to help provide us with boreholes in Iri District, because as it is now, River Iri is the only source of water in this village and those around us. The river sometimes dries off, but people still go there to dig in search of water.
“I’m afraid that people from Hayin Sarki and negbouring villages still fetch water from the dry river despite the risk involved. If the local government can provide us with boreholes, it will go a long way in addressing the problem.”
The District Head also appealed to government for frequent fumigation of the river to control the flies. He said: “There are different tribes living in the community, such as Adara, Fulani, Hausa and Igbo in their thousands. Farming is what we do for a living. River Makoro is another river in another district which breeds such flies. We need help from government to free us from these flies that are sending our people blind,” he said.
Like Steven, many blind residents of Iri and Makoro district resigned to fate without knowing the cause of their blindness and how to prevent the coming generation from falling victims.
Narrating how she became blind several years back, Yawo Yuguda, an octogenarian and mother of two, said nobody has told her what was responsible for her condition. Not even in the hospital where she used to go for treatment. The elderly woman was lonely inside her deserted compound. She was seated few metres away from a dry well, ringed in with disused tyres and covered with wood. She managed to raise her voice to ask ‘who is there’ in local Adara language and the team guide quickly responded.
She eventually spoke to our team in Hausa, saying: “I got blind years back and till date, nobody has told me the reason for my blindness. I even went to the hospital in Kafanchan for treatment, but they couldn’t explain to me the main reason for my blindness, so I took it as my destiny.”
Alisabaltu Zonkwa is another blind woman in Iri village who said she became blind 30 years ago. She told the investigative journalists that “when people started going blind in the village, nobody came to explain the reason behind it. We were only left to go looking for help. Mine started like a joke with itching before I later lost my sight completely,” she said.
Before the team returned from the tour of Iri community and the river after robbing a methylated ointment to prevent possible bites at the river bank, locals with various degrees of blindness and eye problems had gathered at the District Head’s palace. They presented their cases and asked for government’s intervention to help safe their sights.
Sixty-year-old Abdulmumini Ali said: “I started having this eye problem three years ago. It started with itching. Sometimes, I feel as if I am being bitten inside. Although some people from the city do visit us to distribute drugs, they told us that the drugs would help to protect us. My elder brother has already lost his sight, and the problem is the same. It all started about three years ago. We know something was wrong in the village but we didn’t know what it was.”
The head of the Hausa community in the village, 65-year-old Mallam Garba, had lost his left eye. He could only see with the right eye. “I can’t see with my left eye as I talk to you now, and this problem only started last year,” he said.
“I don’t know the cause, but it began with inching. Now the right eye too is having a problem, which is making me worried because it seems soon I will lose my sight completely.”
Asked whether the community had received help from government, he said: “The last time I remember some people came and fumigated River Iri was in the 70s, because they said the problem was the river. We were told that there were tsetse flies at the riverside.”
Paul Sanda, a retired soldier, said he returned to the village with his family three years ago but had started losing his sight.
“When I was in the city, my eyes were fine. But since I returned home after my retirement, my eyes started having problems. That was in 2013. I visited the National Eye Centre where I was operated upon but still I’m not seeing clearly,” he said.
In his own case, 80-year-old Doma Obandoma said he lost his sight completely in 2012. The problem is that some of us don’t go to the hospital because we are poor and we don’t know the real cause of the blindness in the community. But people said it’s has to do with the river. We just need help,” he said.
Sixty-five-year-old Mrs. Alex Danladi said her blindness started about five years ago. It began with itching before I went to the hospital and they gave me drugs but the pains and itching continued. My 18-year-old daughter too has started complaining about the same itching eyes since last year. The truth is that before we moved from the city to the village, we never had these symptoms. So, we are all worried because we don’t know the cause,” she said.
Government is, however, not unaware of the problem confronting this communities. But efforts to combat it seem inadequate. Besides, poor supervision is denying the government adequate knowledge of increase in the new cases.
When the team of investigative journalists visited the health department of Kajuru Local Government Council, their records showed that the local government was aware of river blindness in 14 of the districts within the area. Not only does the council know about the existence of the black flies that spread river blindness, it distributes Mectizan, a drug meant for prevention of the disease to the affected villages.
According to their records, Mectizan has cut down the level of blindness to about 40 per cent in the areas. What is, however, required to stamp out the disease is improvement in surveillance structure and for the government to step up interventions in the affected areas. The team observed that the major intervention available to the areas presently is carried out by Sight Savers, an international non-governmental organisation (NGO).
The Programme Officer of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) at the Health Department of Kajuru Local Government area, Mr. Francis Habakuk, told the team that the Council has for 17 years now been benefitting from provision of Mectizan from Sight Savers International.
“Sight Savers International gives us Mectizan every year for affected communities. We carry out supervision and distribute Mectizan to affected persons in the area. We distribute Mectizan in 119 communities to over 77,000 residents. We engage community directed distributors (CDD) who are members of respective communities to carry out the distribution of the drugs every year in their areas.”
“Last year, in November, we received a delegation of some visitors from the United States in collaboration with NPHCDA in Abuja. Communities visited by the team included Rafin Kunu and Angwan Fada, all under Kajuru, with Iri not included. They were led here by the Coordinator, Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD), Kaduna State.
“Unfortunately, we asked the community members to report cases of river blindness to us but they don’t. They just sit at home. Since I assumed office in the last five years, it is only old cases of river blindness that we have on record, except for one new case M&E reported in Agwala in Afogoh district – Afogoh.” He also disclosed that, aside from Mectizan, the department suggested to the government to consider distribution of mosquito nets to mitigate the problem.
Our correspondent gathered that Sight Savers International spends over N11 million annually for provision of Mectizan and other services in Kaduna State. Based on budget document of the state, there is need for the government to compliment the efforts with provision of potable drinking water for the people of the affected villages to prevent them from drinking the infected water.
There is also need for constant fumigation of the river to eliminate the Tsetse flies. These will go a long way in preventing new cases of river blindness in Kaduna State.
