Kenya’s Ministry of Health in collaboration with the national government administrative officers has activated contingency measures to limit the outbreak and spread of cholera in Nyando, Kisumu County.

Nyando Deputy County Commissioner Elijah Maranga led a multi-sectoral team in a public awareness creation forum on Wednesday morning as part of the escalated campaign to roll back cholera in the flood-prone sub-county.

The move follows reports of three deaths on Tuesday, suspected to have resulted from acute diarrhoea, prompting authorities to strengthen surveillance to defuse a looming cholera outbreak.

The deceased include a one-year-old child from Kakmie village and two siblings – a 25-year-old male and a 13-year-old female from Kobong’o village in Onjiko location. All succumbed to the disease on Tuesday.

“The main cause of diarrhoea in this region is consumption of contaminated water due to rampant open defecation. Let us build pit latrines in every home, churches and public spaces to avoid a public health crisis,” Maranga explained.

Ruth Ojuka, Nyando Sub-County community health focal person lamented that local people still live without safely managed sanitation, with majority still practising open defecation.

“We recently conducted a transect walk in Kogola and Kowino villages and the outcome was worrying.  In Kogola for instance, only 37 homes out of 106 households had access to safe and hygienic toilets,” Ojuka observed.

The lack of toilets, she added, means that locals are forced to defecate open, which poses a significant public health concern.

Public Health Officer Philip Adingo told the community to take their loved ones to health facilities immediately they experience diarrheal symptoms. He also told locals to treat water before drinking, maintain high standards of sanitation and adhere to ministry of health guidelines, including regular hand washing.

• A Tell Media / KNA report / By Robert Ojwang’