By: Dennis Wendo
Worth Noting:
- It has advised the citizens to be vigilant and on the lookout for potential floods, flash floods and poor visibility, with water levels in rivers, lakes and dams expected to remain high.
- The floods havoc highlights the government’s moral imperative to prepare for and promptly respond to the calculable impacts of climate change and natural disasters.
- In its National Climate Change Action 2023-2027 and its disaster response plans, Kenya identified flooding as a risk. Though it failed to outline an action plan, the government set aside at least Ksh10 billion in preparation for a nationwide response. Parliament further approved an additional Ksh 8.2billion.
The government has a human rights obligation to fend off foreseeable harm from climate change, extreme weather occurrences and protect its citizens when disaster strikes.
The recent heavy downpours caused devastating floods, leading to hundreds of deaths, thousands of displacement and extensive destruction. Majority of the worst affected were people living in informal settlements, with less solid structures, congestion and poor sanitation infrastructure.
Many Kenyans believe the flooding was augmented by lack of investment by the government. They cite its tepid response despite the early warnings in May last year by the met department. Moreover, the weather forecast department has issued an advisory on the likelihood of heavy rainfall, strong winds and large ocean waves in the offing.
It has advised the citizens to be vigilant and on the lookout for potential floods, flash floods and poor visibility, with water levels in rivers, lakes and dams expected to remain high.
The floods havoc highlights the government’s moral imperative to prepare for and promptly respond to the calculable impacts of climate change and natural disasters.
In its National Climate Change Action 2023-2027 and its disaster response plans, Kenya identified flooding as a risk. Though it failed to outline an action plan, the government set aside at least Ksh10 billion in preparation for a nationwide response. Parliament further approved an additional Ksh 8.2billion. It remains unclear on how the monies were utilized. The Public Finance Management Act requires county governments to set aside 2 percent of their annual budgets for disaster response.
At the peak of the floods, Kenya Red Cross Society reported an increase in waterborne diseases like cholera. The disease is an acute diarrheal infection caused by eating or drinking water that is contaminated with bacterium vibrio cholera. The virulent disease can be endemic or epidemic and can kill within hours of infection. Kenya is not yet off the hooks and ill effects of Covid-19 sub variants. A resurgence of isolated instances of omicron KQ.1, BA.2, and GE.1 have been revealed.
Cases of cholera and diarrheal were reported in the counties of Tana River, Marsabit and Migori and more likely to spread across the country as the rains press on with.
Several risk factors are contributing to the spread of this deadly disease. The main one being the destruction of sanitation facilities, resulting in the collapse and filling of latrines with flood water. Proactionary, the situation needs to be pugnaciously curbed lest it spirals to undesirable intensity.
According to WHO, every year there are 1.3m to 4m cases of cholera and 21,000 to 143,000 deaths worldwide from the disease. Speed remains of the essence in the response to save lives and contain an outbreak.
A multifaceted approach is salient in curbing Cholera and reducing deaths. A combination of surveillance, water sanitation and hygiene, social mobilization, treatment and oral cholera vaccines by and large should be adopted.
County governments should not relent in setting up robust responsive measures to ensure high rates of access to health care and WASH services. The unemployed, largely the youths, should be utilized in implementing programs geared towards environmental sanitation.
Cholera surveillance should be part of an integrated disease surveillance system that encompasses feedback at the local and information sharing at the counties and national governments.
The Division of Disease Surveillance and Response (DDSR), Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Program (FELP) and County departments of health should be fully supported in their Cholera responsive measures that includes field investigations, enhanced surveillance, laboratory testing and case management to prevent further spread of the disease and optimally manage outbreaks. The vaccination and awareness drives should be progressive.
Long term solution for cholera lies in economic development and universal access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation. There is a need to champion actions targeting the environment to adapt long term sustainable WASH solutions. These will boost the use of safe water, basic sanitation and good hygiene practices in the hotspot counties. Such interventions prevent a wide range of other water borne illnesses such as Hepatitis A, Dysentery, Typhoid fever, Salmonella and Giardia.
Let us be cautious within our midst right from food vendors to social gathering places like churches, mosques, eateries and entertainment joints, funerals and weddings by maintaining increased levels of hygiene standards.
Prudently nurturing the culture of being sensitive to the environment will impact positively towards taming the Cholera menace.
Dennis Wendo
Integrated Development Network
Email: dambehi@gmail.com
Elizabeth Angira 
Xinhua Media 
John Kariuki