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Nairobi floods, poor hygiene accelerate cholera outbreak in the city

Lang'ata constituency – wading through flooded road following a sewer that burst during the heavy rains.
 Lang'ata constituency – wading through flooded road following a sewer that burst during the heavy rains. PHOTO: COURTESY

Kenya: Nairobi County Health officials have gone back to the drawing board following Cholera outbreak in the city.

Statistics show Nairobi has reported over 200 cases and 11 deaths due to Cholera cases and health officers say slums are the most vulnerable due to poor hygiene and sewerage systems.

They have established that the disease is being spread from a point of transmission unlike before where it was said to be person to person transmission.

The officials who met at the Provincial Medical Offices in Nyayo House on Thursday noted there was need to establish the avenues of transmission in order to contain it.

The County government is working with various organizations to contain the situation and prevent more outbreaks.

County Disease Surveillance Coordinator, Raphael Muli, said the county was working with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) from Belgium, France, Kenya and UNICEF to help contain the disease.

Muli said there had been three outbreaks since the first case was reported in December last year.

"What happens with Cholera is that after the first cases are reported and contained, other cases arise after the disease incubation period. That has happened thrice since December," he said.

Muli said the outbreak was greatly contributed by poor hygiene, sewerage systems and inadequate chlorine in the country.

"It is sad that Nairobi is being affected by a disease associated with poverty due to poor hygiene," he said.

He said the last outbreak in Nairobi was experienced in 2009/10 all caused by the same factors.

"The city suffers poor water infrastructure, sewerage management which have been the main causes of the cholera outbreak," Muli said.

He added that treatment of water with chlorine has been a challenge due to the unavailability of chlorine in the country.

"Water did not have the proper chlorine levels since you cannot store chlorine it was inadequate in the country but the situation has been handled," he said.

Muli said the city is in danger due to the rainy situation and imported cases.

"As long as the neighbouring counties Mombasa, Bomet, Kiambu have the outbreak, Nairobi cannot be safe," he said.

Teams of health officers are in the affected regions to carry out sensitization of the disease.

The health officials have partnered with various organizations to educate residents on ways to purify and store drinking water.

Communication Coordinator Population and Survey Kenya Health Wahome Macharia, said households need to be sensitized on how to treat water if cholera is to be contained.

"Promotion for household water treatment products will help curb the outbreak," he said.

Macharia said the availability of these products is few and sensitization low.

"We are distributing 100,000 sachets of water treatment products in Nairobi and sensitization will also be done concurrently," he said.

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