Visceral Leishmaniasis (Kala-azar) is a neglected tropical disease (NTD)caused byLeishmania speciesthat affects human. Transmission is throughthe bite ofPhlebotomussandflies. Globally, WHO ranks Kala-azar as thesecond largest parasitic killer after Malaria. The disease poses a threatto more than a billion people on almost every continent. Approximately90% of Kala-azar global burden is found in Africa. Major endemicity isdocumented in Eastern Africa (Kenya, South Sudan, Sudan, Ethiopia,and Somalia). Accurate burden of the disease in Kenya is unknownattributable to inadequate information on disease prevalence, diagnosticchallenges, and spatial distribution. Additionally, morbidity and mortalitylevels from the disease in the Country are unknown ascribable to a lowindex of suspicion by healthcare workers, diagnostic challenges, and casemanagement. An example of diagnostic challenges is a reported outbreakof ‘unknown disease’ akin to Kala-azar in Marsabit County in May 2023where nine people were confirmed dead and over 80 hospitalized. Thisstudy aimed to analyze community’s prioritization of causes of Kala-azar as well as community awareness of disease prevention and control.Quantitative data were collected using Participatory Epidemiology methodsin purposively selected study villages. Qualitative data were collectedthrough semi-structured interviews. Study findings indicated that 97.2% ofrespondents had heard about Kala-azar. Despite the awareness, a broad gapbetween knowledge and practice of prevention and control strategies of thedisease was evident. Kala-azar was associated with human behaviour likepreferences for traditional and alternative treatment approaches (45.2%),evening outdoor practices before going to bed (99.6%), sleeping outdoors(60.1%), occasional bed nets use (69.2%), and availability of domesticanimals and wild animals within house yards (54.6%). Cultural beliefs andpractices were noted to play a key role in augmenting the disease burden,where most cases had burn scars from traditional healers’ therapeutic burns.As a consequence, they sought medical help after onset of complications,which ranged from increased severity to fatalities. Community engagementwas minimal in prevention and control. In this participatory research, wepropose behaviour change communication activities for the eliminationof Kala-azar as a public health problem. This article serves as a basefor future studies aimed at giving voice to communities while enhancingtheir understanding of causes of diseases, the possibility of enhanced earlydiagnostic techniques, and options for prevention, control, and surveillancewhich in turn is translated to action