Diarrhoea kills three in Kakamega's Masingo slums
Residents of Kakamega's Masingo slums preparing to draw water from a contaminated stream. Three people from the slum have died while receiving treatment for diarrhoea and vomiting. PHOTO | BENSON AMADALA | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
They said raw sewer and garbage from the nearby fish market had contaminated water in the stream.
Residents linked the outbreak of diarrhoea and vomiting to contaminated water from a nearby stream.
A team of public health officers had been sent to the estate to investigate a possible cholera outbreak in the slum inhabited by more than 600 people.
Three people have died in Kakamega County while receiving treatment for diarrhoea and vomiting. The three, including two men and a woman, were residents of Kakamega town's Masingo slums.
Five other patients have been admitted to the Kakamega County General and Referral Hospital with similar symptoms.
Kakamega County Director of Medical Services Arthur Andere said a team of public health officers have been sent to the estate to investigate a possible cholera outbreak in the slum inhabited by more than 600 people.
GRIM
“We are yet to establish whether there is cholera outbreak (in the slum) but the situation on the ground is looking grim; we are doing everything we can to contain the situation,” said Dr Andere.
Residents linked the outbreak of diarrhoea and vomiting to contaminated water from a nearby stream.
GARBAGE
They said raw sewer and garbage from a nearby fish market had contaminated water in the stream.
Heavy rains, which have been washing heaps of rotting garbage to houses in the slum, have complicated the situation.
A village elder, Mr Mohammed Ali, said that the stream has also been contaminated by pigs.
“We are living in very unhygienic conditions, our homes are surrounded by heaps of garbage which end up spilling into the stream. Then, there is the sewer which flows from burst pipes,” said Mr Ali.
INTERVENE
Ms Violet Kageha, a resident of the slum, asked the county government to intervene.
“We are living under very deplorable conditions, when people get sick, they die in their homes before they can get to hospital for treatment,” said Ms Kageha.
The residents have called on public health officials to set up an emergency camp to offer treatment to patients complaining of diarrhoea and vomiting.
