Less than one per cent of Nakuru villages have proper toilets

Only less than one per cent of all villages in Nakuru County have access to proper toilets.

According to the latest statistics from the department of health, out of 1,690 villages in the county, only a paltry 232 had been declared as open defecation free (ODF).

This emerged during celebrations in Kinamba, Naivasha, where public health officers unveiled 30 villages which were declared ODF.

According to Nakuru County public health officer Samuel King'ori, the low number of ODF villages was to blame for the high number of preventable diseases in the county.

He said the department needed Sh18m per year to ensure all the villages were ODF by the year 2020.

According to King'ori, the county spent Sh400m every year to buy drugs to treat preventable diseases.

"If we can make all the villages in the county open defecation-free, then we can cut by over 50 per cent the amount of cash used to buy drugs," he said.

The county's estimated 87,000 persons living with disability were the most affected in terms of getting access to proper toilets.

County Health chief executive officer Mungai Kabii said the county was losing Sh1 billion annually in dealing with diseases caused by poor sanitation.