Worst drought in 60 years
It is unbearably hot in Turkana. Sprawling empty arid land stretches for miles. The worst drought in 60 years has swept across the Horn of Africa, leading to the death of livestock, crops, and children. Over 12 million people are affected, including the residents of Turkana, a district in north-west Kenya.
“I could walk up to four hours away from my house in search of water,” Alice Napong, a resident of Napadal village in northern Turkana, says.
She drapes her son to her back, places an empty container on her head, and reaches for a small container with her right hand: “We have always had to search for water, but it has never been this hard.”
Weak health systems
The nearest health centre is kilometres away, leaving pastoralist communities in remote areas of Turkana vulnerable. With limited access to safe drinking water and essential health care, waterborne and water-related diseases such as diarrhoea and cholera are common challenges. Such diseases can be successfully treated with oral rehydration solution and antibiotics, but in regions like Turkana, health centres are rare, and the few that exist lack basic supplies and qualified health staff.
Worldwide, around 1.1 billion people lack access to improved water sources and 2.4 billion have no basic sanitation. Waterborne diseases are a leading cause of preventable deaths around the world, and are among the five major causes of death in children under the age of five.
Health promotion
“My five daughters are consistently suffering from akirem (diarrhoea),” says Alice.
Alice and her children are one of many families who have received treatment for diarrhoeal diseases from the International Organization for Migration (IOM). In partnership with Kenya’s Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation, IOM’s mobile medical rapid response teams go to hard-to-reach mobile communities in Turkana. Equipped with re-hydration sachets, chlorine water treatment tablets, de-worming tablets, and drugs for common medical conditions, the teams distribute much needed medication and conduct mass de-worming campaigns.
Small changes can have a big impact, which has been proven by health and hygiene promotion talks that IOM is also running. Sensitive to sustainability and cultural practices, IOM’s health promotion campaign complements local knowledge with indigenous solutions. For example, communities are encouraged to wash their hands with ash, a local disinfectant that is free and easily accessible. 55,000 vulnerable members of the community are being targeted by IOM’s outreach.
Photo: REUTERS
In 2009 and 2010, IOM dispatched four teams on similar missions to crisis-affected communities in Kenya’s Rift Valley, Western, and Nyanza provinces that were struggling to prevent and fight against waterborne diseases. Over 492,000 people benefited.
According to Grace Khaguli, Field Coordinator for IOM’s emergency health project in Turkana: “Due to the scale of the drought, water is scarce. This makes Alice Napong and her daughters more inclined to drink dirty, unsafe water. What is happening to them is replicated in households across Turkana.”
Residents use contaminated water, and the area has very few toilets, which contributes to improper waste disposal.”
Senior Elder Echepan Ngelecha, a community leader in Nadapal Village, says: “In our culture, we divide illnesses into those caused by God and those caused by Ngidekesiney ka ekapilan (witchcraft). Thanks to IOM, we are now aware that we can do certain things to prevent illnesses. This partnership needs to continue because it takes time to change behaviour, like remembering to use ash when we wash our hands in order to prevent the spread of diseases.”
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Region: Kenya, Horn of Africa
Theme(s): Migration, Health, Drought
The author is a health communications consultant. Follow her on Twitter [@msanyuosire] & keep tabs on tips she shares with health communications officers by "liking" my facebook page [Mary-Sanyu Osire].
its amazing the disparities of life,in some part of kenya,there is the perenial problem of flooding and people having more than sufficient clean water yet these poor citizens in.the same country can barely survive!
ReplyDeleteits great mary that u r telling the story.
It is so sad so many people are going through the same thing hopefully people will donate and the water will be cleaner but it depends on wealthy countries if we reduce global warming it will not be so hot so the water could come back in africa
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