Govt to roll out major clean-up to battle cholera

Children play in dirty water at Nyalenda slums in Kisumu County. The government is striving to manage the cholera outbreak in different parts of the country. PHOTO | TONNY OMONDI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Kenya has experienced cholera outbreaks with an ongoing epidemic in Garissa and Nairobi counties.
  • Poor sanitation, personal hygiene and overcrowding have been linked to the outbreak of cholera at the Kodiaga prison.

The national government will deploy 5,000 youth to collect garbage in Kisumu, Kwale, Nairobi and Kilifi amid efforts to control the cholera outbreak in some parts of the country.

Ms Sicily Kariuki, Cabinet Secretary for Public Service, Youth and Gender Affairs, made the announcement at a function in Jacaranda Hotel, which complied with the Ministry of Health directive to close until it tested its workers.

GARBAGE
She asked county governments to invest in garbage collection, saying it was a devolved function.

“We cannot be intervening every time the situation deteriorates,” she said.

DEATHS

Since the beginning of the year, Kenya has experienced cholera outbreaks with an ongoing epidemic in Garissa and Nairobi counties.

Some 1,216 cases, including 14 deaths, have been reported this year.

Saying hotel closures were not punitive, Health Cabinet Secretary Cleopa Mailu however warned that there is no room for anyone to defy the directives.

“It is for the wellbeing of the public,” Dr Mailu said.

HOSPITALISED
He also promised to issue guidelines on outsourcing of food, which was cited as one of the drivers of the current wave of the disease.

Meanwhile, four more people have been diagnosed with cholera in Seme, Kisumu.

The assistant commander of Kisumu Maximum Prison Kodiaga, Mr Martin Akwanyi, told the Nation Thursday that two children and two women were admitted at the correctional facility’s hospital on Wednesday morning suffering from the disease.

KODIAGA PRISON
The Chief Officer of Health for Kisumu, Dr Ojwang Lusi, said the county had set up treatment centres to mitigate the outbreak.

Poor sanitation, personal hygiene and overcrowding have been linked to the outbreak of cholera at the Kodiaga prison.

SANITATION

Dr Lusi said the prison draws it water from River Saka for its day-to-day running.

“Unfortunately, the water is consumed without undergoing proper treatment,” Dr Lusi said.

The county government has also banned the sale of food in kiosks and small hotels within the central business district of Kisumu city.

HOTELS CLOSED
Machakos County government temporarily closed 11 hotels in Kangundo Sub-County for failure to meet public health standards.

This came few days after the governor, Dr Alfred Mutua, directed all county public health officers to be on a high alert to deal with any suspicious case should it arise.

CAUTION
Speaking to the Nation on phone, the county’s Health chief officer, Dr Jacks Nthanga, said the hotels were closed for one week.

But he dismissed fears among residents that the closure came after a resident at Kakuyuni in the sub-county contracted cholera.

Dr Nthanga on Thursday said they acted even though the county has not had a confirmed case of cholera.

Reported by Elizabeth Ogina, Verah Okeyo and Gastone Valusi