Nairobi loses close to 9,000 children every year due to diarrhoea, Director of Health Services Nairobi county, Dr Ouma Oluga has said.
Overall, the country loses 30,000 children yearly due to the disease.
It is the number two cause of mortality and morbidity among children below five years.
The World Health Organisation estimates that diarrhoea is responsible for killing around 525,000 children every year globally.
“In Nairobi, the number gets to about 8,000 to 9,000 every year because we still have a lot of public health issues,” Oluga said.
“We still have problems with diseases such as HIV with a huge burden of 168,000 people who are living with HIV so diarrheal diseases become part of the opportunist infections that they get.”
WHO has warned that children who are malnourished or have impaired immunity and people living with HIV are most at risk of life-threatening diarrhoea.
Oluga said Nairobi has suffered from a perennial shortage of water that has seen the defunct NMS sink more than 100 boreholes; 93 in the first 100 days.
He has however underscored the need for desalination of the borehole water as it contains high levels of fluorosis and microbes that cause diarrhoea.
“In Nairobi, there is generally a water issue and therefore many estates have borehole water that comes with very high levels of fluoride. This gives us the moral standing to campaign on issues of fluorosis,” he said.
“Beyond having water availability, that water should be safe. Nairobi and some other counties like Nakuru and other places like Laikipia are also affected by fluorosis.”
Diarrhoea is the passage of three or more loose or liquid stools per day or more frequent passage than is normal for the individual.
It is usually a symptom of an infection in the intestinal tract, which can be caused by a variety of bacterial, viral and parasitic organisms.
Infection is spread through contaminated food or drinking-water, or from person to person as a result of poor hygiene.
Interventions to prevent diarrhoea, including safe drinking water, use of improved sanitation and hand washing with soap can reduce disease risk and it should be treated with oral rehydration solution (ORS), a solution of clean water, sugar and salt.
This comes even as the Ministry of Health on Wednesday announced a Cholera outbreak in six counties including Nairobi.
Cholera is an acute diarrheal illness caused by infection of the intestine with Vibrio cholerae bacteria. People can get sick when they swallow food or water contaminated with cholera bacteria
So far 61 people have tested positive for the watery diarrhoeal disease in Kiambu county (31 people), Nairobi (17), Uasin Gishu (eight), Kajiado (two), Nakuru (two) and Murang'a (one).
“Of the 61 cases so far, 13 are currently hospitalised, eight have been discharged while 40 were treated as outpatients,” acting director general for health Patrick Amoth said in a statement.
Cholera is a highly infectious disease that causes severe diarrhoea and vomiting, leading to dehydration and possible death within a few hours if left untreated.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris
