The Ministry of Health has associated the ongoing Cholera outbreak in the country with the sprouting of unregulated water vendors.
This is according to an assessment conducted by the ministry in collaboration with the affected counties.
The survey which sought to identify the risk factors driving the spread of the deadly disease also identified poor sanitation in informal urban settlements.
Nairobi which hosts some of the largest slums in the country is among the 15 counties that have been struggling to contain the outbreak that has so far claimed 83 lives countrywide.
“The prolonged drought has led to a scarcity of safe drinking water in ASAL areas forcing communities to fetch water from contaminated shallow wells,” health CS Susan Wafula said.
Outsourcing of food from food vendors with questionable hygiene standards and congestion in the refugee camps leading to overstretching of sanitary facilities were also identified as driving factors.
According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), people living in places with unsafe drinking water, poor sanitation, and inadequate hygiene are at the highest risk for cholera.
The outbreak was first reported in October 2022, with the first cases being detected following a wedding event that was performed in Kiambu county.
Subsequently, the outbreak has spread to 15 other counties with 4,566 cases reported to date.
In a response to the ongoing cholera outbreak, the ministry on Saturday rolled out the Oral Cholera Vaccination campaign targeting 2.2 million people aged one year and above.
It was officially launched in Madogo in Tana River county.
Refugees in the Dadaab camps are among those targeted in the ongoing cholera vaccine by the Ministry of Health.
The ministry decided to include the Daadab refugee camps alongside the four other targeted counties of Nairobi, Wajir, Tana River and Garissa due to the congestion in the camps.
