Source: awoko.org

A local teacher of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Secondary School in Boajibu town in the Simbaru Chiefdom in Kenema District has raised serious concern over huge amount of black flies in four of chiefdoms in the district that he said are potential threats for mass blindness in those chiefdoms if steps are taken to combat them around the rivers and their breeding grounds.

Sumaila Amadu Shengahun people of Wandor, Simbaru, Gorama Mende and Dodo Chiefdoms have rivers that flow through them and that these rivers being sources of livelihoods for the people, are breeding grounds or black flies whose bite can cause river blindness.

Sumaila made this disclosure to Awoko in an exclusive interview in Kenema City where he informed that he had gone to the District Health Management Team (DHMT) to inform it about the pending health disaster.

He explained rivers like Sewa, Laanyei, Mabangah, Tikpanyei and Maata rivers run across the four chiefdoms and several other chiefdoms in the district.

He revealed that the swarm is so huge that “one cannot mince his or her words to refer to it as a plague,” Sumaila said. He said farmers and fishermen now spend little time out on their daily activities because of fear of the black flies. He said the flies are now invading nearby villages causing a lot of discomfort for the people.

He went on to disclose that the effect …continue reading at awoko.org