Iri: River blindness ravages community

Rivers are highly valued among rural dwellers because of the roles they play in the lives of the people. However, for residents of Iri, a village in Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State, the river that flows across it, is not only a source for drinking water, farming and other domestic uses, but also […]

Rivers are highly valued among rural dwellers because of the roles they play in the lives of the people. However, for residents of Iri, a village in Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State, the river that flows across it, is not only a source for drinking water, farming and other domestic uses, but also a source of concern as it breeds blackflies which cause river blindness.
River blindness is a tropical eye and skin disease caused by a parasitic filarial worm, transmitted by the bite of black flies (simulium damnosum), which breed in fast-flowing rivers. The larvae of the parasite can migrate into the eye and cause blindness.
In spite of the presence of these black flies around rivers in Iri district including River Iri and River Makoro, residents still use the river as it remains their major source of water. As a result, many residents of the village and surrounding villages who use the rivers have gone blind while many more are going blind.
A visit by Daily Trust correspondent to Iri revealed that it is one of the communities with high record of river blindness in Kajuru Local Government. It was gathered that River Iri is suspected to be the cause of blindness in the district. Findings revealed that the villagers get bitten by the parasitic flies when they go to the river to fetch water, bathe or wash.
It was gathered that 30 years ago, the community got an intervention through former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, which led to the aerial fumigation of the river. After the exercise, the community had some relief but the flies have resurfaced and the situation is getting worse by the day as Iri is gradually becoming a community of the blind.
Daily Trust learnt that though the local government area usually gets Mectizan for prevention of river blindness from Sight Savers, an international non-governmental organisation, which is distributed to the community members once a year, river blindness has continued to ravage the residents of the community.
  It was further confirmed at the Department of Health, Kajuru Local Government Area secretariat that there is presence of black flies at the rivers and that there has been no intervention from government except that from Sight Savers.
Eighty-year-old Patrick Inusa, a resident of the area said that his left eye went blind about three years ago and that the right one has also started itching  him.
The story is also the same with the Mai Unguwa of the area, Abdulmumuni Ali, 59, who said one part of his body became swollen and itchy after taking Mectizan and that since then, he had problem with his right eye.
 “For about eight years now, I could not see with my right eye and this is affecting my farm work because I strain my left eye to see most of the time,” he lamented.
Narrating his ordeal, a 70-year-old retired soldier, Paul Sanda, said he started having problems with one of his eyes in 2003 when he moved to the village after retirement.
He said: “I went to the eye centre in Kaduna and surgery was done on it but instead of getting relief, it got worse. When LGA workers came, they told me that the surgery was not well carried out, and they carried out another surgery. Thereafter, the second eye got affected and I had another surgery but up till now, I don’t see clearly,”
For 86-year-old Goma Ubandoma, he lost his sight completely in 2012, saying majority of the residents don’t go to hospital early enough because they are poor.
Alisabatu Zonkwa, a woman said since she lost her sight she had not been able to work.
Talatu Saleh, another  female resident who is also affected by river blindness said she had undergone  surgery at the Kaduna Eye Centre, but still can’t see.
Sixty-five-year-old Alexandra Danladi said her eye problem started with itching, and persisted even after she had gone to the hospital and taken drugs.
“My 18 years old daughter has also started complaining of itching, and it is worrisome because we never had eye problem before we moved to the village,” she said.
According to the district head of Iri, Peter A. Magaji, there are almost 100 people with complaints of eye problem in the community while over 50 others have gone blind completely.
“There is no form of intervention for the blind here. Most blind people in the village are taken care of by their children. Now that the blackflies have resurfaced, the spraying or fumigation is supposed to be done regularly so that we can get relief.
“River Makoro is a river at another district that breeds such black flies. So, we need help from government to free us from these flies that are making our people go blind,” he said.
While blaming lack of potable drinking water for the rise in cases of river blindness,  he appealed to government at all levels to come to their aid and provide boreholes for the community.
The Programme Officer of Neglected Tropical Diseases, (NTD) at the Health Department, Kajuru Local Government Area, Francis Habakkuk, said river blindness had been a source of concern to residents of the local government area  for many years.
According to him, intervention by Sight Savers has cut down the trend in the area by about 40 percent, adding that the LGA has for 17 years now been benefitting from provision of Mectizan to protect against river blindness from the NGO.
“We distribute Mectizan in 119 communities to over 77,000 residents. We have suggested to government to, in addition to Mectizan from Sight Savers, provide mosquito nets to help reduce the effect of the flies,” he said.
Daily Trust had earlier reported the appeal to the state government by lawmakers in the Kaduna State House of Assembly to combat river blindness (onchocerciasis)  to prevent its spread in the state. The disease poses a serious threat to people residing close to rivers or swamps.
The call was made via a motion sponsored by a member representing Kajuru constituency in the Kaduna State House of Assembly, Samuel Tanko Ubankato, alongside 11 co-sponsors who appealed to the assembly to investigate the extent of the scourge with a view to calling on the state government to intensify efforts towards its control and elimination, especially in communities on the plank of streams and marshy ponds.
Iri is a highly populated district because it is surrounded by other villages. The community is inhabited by different tribes including Kadara, Fulani, Hausa and some Yoruba because of the presence of a functional railway station at Iri.
It was observed that Iri and Makoro are blessed with abundant sand, which could be used for construction work. Sale of the heap of sand around Iri and Makoro rivers could serve as a source of revenue generation to the communities, though the distance of the communities to the city where the sand can be sold and the access road to the villages is in a very deplorable state  could be a problem.
This reporter observed that the road to Makoro River is not motorable especially during the rainy season. Also, the bridge made through community effort, connecting the district to other villages is already collapsing due to erosion.