KENYA, Nairobi - Falling sick is tough enough. Developing drug resistance to medication worsens the situation and results in greater risks of death.
This was the overarching message delivered by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), alongside other partners who joined forces with Kenya’s Ministry for Public Health and Sanitation to mark this year’s World Health Day, which is marked annually on April 7.
This year’s celebrations in Kenya were held at the Riruta Health Centre, a community clinic on the outskirts of Nairobi that caters for the health concerns of low-income earners. The message of the Day focused on drug resistance.
The Minister for Public Health and Sanitation, Hon. Beth Mugo(also the area Member of Parliament for Dagoretti, in whose constituency the celebrations were held), appealed for a joint integrated approach towards tackling drug resistance.
She said:
“We call for concerted efforts from all stakeholders including policy-makers, patients, pharmacists and practitioners to think,act and take responsibility for combating drug resistance.”
Dr. Adoulie Jack, the World Health Organization Country Representative, asserted:
“Urgent and coordinated action is required at all levels to ensure the preservation of these life-saving drugs for future generations. We must consolidate our efforts to combat the real threat of drug resistance and raise the required resources.”
IOM‘s remarks were delivered by Dr. Aleksandar Galev, the Regional Migration Health Assessment Coordinator. Dr. Galev emphasised the distinct health concerns of migrants, mobile populations and host communities.
“Due to a number of social factors, such as immigration status and language barriers, migrants and mobile populations are more likely to self-medicate which often leads to drug resistance. It is an issue of inequality; such populations are invisible and existing disparities are preventing them from accessing quality health care. We must ensure medical services are ‘migrant friendly’ to reduce these disparities and curb drug resistance in Kenya, and indeed, globally.”
IOM is an intergovernmental organization whose programs are tailored towards facilitating the safe, humane and orderly movement of people.
In Kenya, powerful and effective medicines are on the brink of loosing their effectiveness because of misuse – drugs are shared, patients are self-medicating and buying their medicines directly over the counter, prescriptions are not duly followed and treatments are often not completed.
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Region: Africa, Eastern Africa, Kenya
Theme(s):Migration, Development, Health
The author is a humanitarian analyst and she writes on migration. Email her on: msanyu@yahoo.com
