Our students carry out a project to combat sand flea disease in Kenya — achieving treatment and improving the environment
From November 20th (Thursday) to 25th (Tuesday), the student NGO "Waka Waka Kenya" launched by our students carried out the "1st SAFE FEET PROJECT" aimed at combating spontaneous fleas in Essumba Village, Bihiga District, Republic of Kenya.
The organization, consisting of Kazuo Nishimatsu (Representative / Faculty of Economics 3rd year), Arisaki Maezawa (Faculty of International Liberal Arts 3rd year), Miyuki Iida (Faculty of Economics 3rd year), and Yuzuki Yamamoto (Faculty of International Liberal Arts 3rd year), is working to spread the correct understanding of the tropical disease fleculosis and to co-create a society where people can live with peace of mind.
In collaboration with the local NPO "Lornajosh community based organization", this project focused on treating patients with flea disease and distributing shoes, cementing the floors of houses for prevention, and raising awareness among residents.
As a key achievement, we completed foot treatment for a total of more than 57 patients and provided shoes to more than 65 patients. In particular, in terms of improving the living environment, we implemented cement pavement of the floors of the dwellings of five households that needed support. The improvement from the earthen floor to the concrete floor, which is the habitat of the sand fleas, was highly praised by the villagers as a "miraculous support".
In addition, in the awareness-raising activities, we independently produced illustrated posters and picture books that took into account the low literacy rate, and received high praise for posting them at local health centers. During the event, county health department staff and local media visited the event, which was broadcast on local radio. In addition, questionnaire data was collected from 51 people to continuously measure the effectiveness of the project.
Based on the results and challenges of this project, Waka Waka Kenya plans to implement the second project in late April 2026. In the future, we plan to expand the scale of support and introduce more effective intervention methods.
