CHOLERA OUTBREAK IN KENYA.

.              Photo by//9jaloud Forums

One out of ten people in the country are suffering from Cholera.

Cholera is a waterborne disease caused by ingestion of contaminated food or water with symptoms of acute watery diarrhoea which causes dehydration.

According to the Ministry of Health cholera outbreak began last year October at a wedding in Kiambu county where 31 people were infected and later spread to other counties like Nairobi,Uasin Gishu,Nakuru,Muranga and Kajiado.

The Ministry of Health did a survey which showed that between 2015 and 2019 there was a total of 25992 cases and 479 deaths,2015 having the highest cases and 2016 having the least.

The survey also shows that in 2023 the outbreak has spread rampantly with over 7800 cases confirmed and 122 deaths in mostly the Northern region due to the lack of rains which was triggered by impact of a prolonged and severe drought.

According to the Kenya Health Authorities,the first ever cholera vaccination drive was launched in February in partnership with World Health Organization (WHO) to control the outbreak in the Northern region and end the disease completely in a 10-day campaign where 2.2 million people were targeted in four affected counties.

WHO said that their aim was to ramp up disease surveillance,work on prevention and treatment,engage in communication and coordinate with partners concerning cholera to ensure that sanitization is improved and there is safe water provision.

"Our response to the outbreak has focused on community engagement and messeging,"said Ibrahim Mohammed,the health promotion officer Garissa county.

The Ministry of Health also said that the vaccination teams went door to door to provide residents with vaccinations at home as well as setting up vaccination stations in schools,health centres and market places where 2.2 million vaccines were administered to control the outbreak.

"We must remember that the vaccine is not a magic bullet, sanitization improvement should also be maintained,"said Dr,Julius Wekesa,WHO's incident manager.