Health providers sensitised on Cholera control in Tana River

Over 360 community health workers have been trained to help mitigate cholera outbreak in Tana River.

Amref Health Africa in partnership with the county government has commenced training of the community health workers in the county amid the outbreak in Tana Delta.

The exercise started with 90 CHPs from nine priority community units in the cholera-struck delta.

According to the Amref Public Health Emergency Response Manager Mary Mathenge, the health workers will be equipped with skills to enhance service delivery to the community.

"Tana Delta, especially the Garsen area, is the worst hit according to the recent Kenya Inter-Agency Rapid Assessment report hence our first area of interest, "she said.

Mathenge said the exercise will major in sensitising the CHPs on Cholera management, disease prevention and health education.

The exercise seeks to engage the CHPs on dialogue days in communities as well as in demonstration of use-water treatment in camps and households.

"They will be a part of training the residents in camps because they are in a better position to articulate some of the ideas to the community, so we shall be actively engaging them in the middle of the sensitisation exercise," she said.

Her sentiments were echoed by the Amref Public Health Emergency Specialist Solomon Mwaniki, who reiterated the importance of providing important links to primary healthcare services amid the Cholera outbreak.

Mwaniki noted that the delivery of basic health prevention and promotion services is important to tackling the cholera menace in the county amid the flood situation.

"This is essential for a time like this if we have to tackle the outbreak as quickly as possible because it is likely to spread across the region if it's poorly managed," he said.

The Amref team was speaking at the Hola Referral Hospital where they delivered a mobile clinic with assorted drugs and assorted non-pharmaceutical commodities to aid in the war against Cholera.

Health Executive Kofa Jarha noted that the intervention is timely, given that the county is facing a Cholera crisis that has since claimed the lives of three people.

"The CHPs are a critical human resource and their training is essential in helping us manage the crisis we are facing in the Tana Delta in the quickest way possible," he said.

Jarha further said that the support from Amref Health Africa will bolster the operationalisation of integrated medical outreaches in areas affected by the floods and most especially in the camps.

"Most of our medical facilities have been marooned and we have more than 30,000 households living in camps, their state is critical to the public health and must be keenly monitored to prevent further spread of Cholera, "he said.

The Ministry of Health has reported that there are more than 100 cases of cholera.