Hidden health burden of diseases that are ripping off most vulnerable: What every Kenyan needs to know about NTDs

Katana Chengo, Chai Kivatsi, Swollen Limbs affected by Lymphatic Filariasis. July 7, 2023. [File Courtesy, Standard]

Imagine waking up one morning to find your leg swollen and painful. You assume it's an insect bite, maybe a sprain. Days pass. It swells more, and people begin to whisper. Soon, you can't walk without pain. You stop going to work, the neighbours think you're cursed. Then the stigma follows you. But you're not cursed. You are living with Lymphatic Filariasis, or rather matende, one of Kenya's many Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs)-a family of illnesses that rarely make headlines but quietly wreck lives. NTDs damage dignity, productivity, and dreams. They thrive where poverty lingers, where clean water is scarce, where sanitation is weak, and where the health system has not fully reached. And most of all, they thrive in silence.