Saturday, June 11, 2016
A cholera patient in Mandera on May 26.Photo/ AMREF
By STEPHEN ASTARIKO @stephen ASTARIKO
A child died of cholera on Thursday morning at the Mandera Referral Hospita, bringing the number of deaths in three months to 19.
The facility has admitted 77 new cholera patients.
Area Health executive Ahmed Sheikh said measures, including public education, contact tracing and water treatment, are in place to contain the outbreak.
Mandera county commissioner, Fredrick Shisia, has called for cross-border efforts to end the crisis. He said it is necessary to assist people from Somalia and Ethiopia to contain the problem, as some of them depend on Mandera Referral Hospital.
Somali authorities have sought assistance from Kenya because they lack diagnostic facilities. Some 246 people in neighbouring Bula Hawa in Somali are infected.
Senator Billow Kerrow emphasised the need to have a regional emergency centre to manage the problem. He urged NGOs and the government to partner to end the outbreaks.