Category: Medical

Three people are nursing serious injuries at Nanyuki Teaching and Referral Hospital (NTRH) after they were attacked by a lion in the Kimugandura area of Laikipia East Sub County. The stray lion that was not immediately established from which conservancy it had come from, further killed a sheep and left another injured before residents killed it. Confirming the incident, Kenya Wildlife Service Laikipia Senior Warden Rose Malenya said the Tuesday incident was unfortunate and encouraged residents to alert authorities once they spot any stray wild animals roaming their locations to avoid attacks. ‘For lions, you can’t really predict their time because they attack very stealthily, and again, they are not as big as elephants, where you can spot them and drive them away. We always encourage communities, through their chiefs, to call us when they see wild animals in their vicinity,’ said Malenya. Ms. Malenya said that in Laikipia, wild animals roam freely, with some confined to the conservancies; however, they are keen to prevent human-wildlife conflicts. ‘Laikipia is land where wildlife roams; there are some in conservancies and others outside protected areas. So we can’t authoritatively say this lion came from a conservancy,’ pointed out Ms. Malenya. Last month, another trader was seriously injured by a lone elephant in Doldol Market, which had strayed from nearby conservancies after breaking through an electric fence. According to data on human-wildlife conflict in Laikipia County from KWS, over 130 cases have been reported since 2016. Speaking in Laikipia recently, State Department for Wildlife Principal Secretary Silvia Museiya said that the government had released about Sh5.7 billion to compensate victims of human-wildlife conflicts countrywide. To address human-wildlife conflict in Laikipia, Ms. Museiya said that the government had further allocated funds to drill boreholes for easy accessibility of water by wildlife and reduce competition for that precious commodity between humans and wildlife. Ms. Museiya added that ranchers in the area were expected to fence their private lands, aimed at ensuring wild animals do not invade residents’ farms and destroy properties.

Source: Kenya News Agency

Nakuru County Government, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), has rolled out a campaign to raise awareness about the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) and enhance vaccination uptake among 10-year-old girls against HPV, said to be the major cause of cervical cancer.

The County Nursing officer, Wendy Tirop, said at least 5,200 women in the country are diagnosed with cervical cancer annually, with more than 2,000 dying from the disease.

Tirop regretted that women dying from cervical cancer in the county were more than those dying from maternal complications, adding that they were committed to changing the trends through the enhancement of public health services and ensuring that teachers and students are knowledgeable about HPV issues.

She said that the HPV vaccination was most effective when administered to girls before they are sexually active, regretted that signs of apathy towards the HPV vaccine, which have been witnessed in the country, especially among religious leaders, were on the rise, and advised that citizens should be educated on its economic benefits.

‘The vaccine targets the HPV subtypes, which are accountable for more than 70 per cent of cervical cancers. Many might not see the immediate effect of the vaccine, so that is why they might procrastinate. We are exploring a number of strategies and creating awareness to make people care about the benefits,’ she explained.

Tirop lamented that the HIV agenda had been pushed so much that the country had forgotten about other equally lethal sexually-transmitted viruses such as HPV, a virus she described as a viral infection that spreads through sexual contact and affects both males and females.

The Nursing Officer warned that while HPV infection is cleared away naturally by the immune system of some people, in others the virus could persist and cause cervical cancer within a number of years if no early interventions are taken.

‘In HIV-positive women, it takes even less time for the virus to cause cervical cancer. HPV also causes non-cancerous, nipple-like bumps called warts on the skin in the genital area or in other parts of the body, as well as ulcerations. She explained that the ulcerations may make women more vulnerable to other STIs, such as HIV.

She noted that unlike other STIs, HPV infection causes havoc silently, adding that it does not produce any symptoms until in its advanced stages, when it has caused cervical cancer.

Tirop explained that men often carry the virus and transmit it to women during sex, while in men the infection is often linked to penile, anal, and throat cancers, though cases are still rare in Kenya.

The Nursing Officer pointed out that despite the huge dangers posed by HPV, an overwhelming majority of Kenyans remained unaware of the virus and how to protect themselves.

‘Not knowing that HPV causes cervical cancer is like not knowing that HIV causes AIDS. Just like HIV testing is done to identify those infected before they progress to the stage of immunodeficiency, so should HPV be tested before women progress to the pre-cancerous and cancer stages, because once identified as positive, someone can be treated,’ she explained.

‘The fact that less than 5% of women in Kenya know about the link between HPV and Cervical Cancer should be a wake-up call to all stakeholders to raise public awareness so that they can protect themselves,’ she added.

Tirop advised Kenyan women to seek regular cervical cancer screening to avoid falling victim to the deadly virus.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the deadly virus, which has no cure yet and is spread through vaginal, oral, and anal sex, has become so common that nearly all sexually active women get it at some point in their lives.

The screening can be done using a Pap smear or Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid (VIA). The two methods check if the virus has caused any abnormal changes in the cervix associated with cervical cancer and give early treatment before it becomes full-blown cancer.

In October 2009, Kenya became the 16th country in Africa to introduce the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine into its routine immunisation schedule. This vaccine targeted 800,000 girls aged 10 years.

According to the World Health Organisation, HPV is medically attributed as the most prominent single contributor to cervical cancer.

The virus plays the most central role in the development of this type of cancer. Currently, there are about 100 types of HPV. At least fourteen of these HPV types cause cancer. Two HPV types, known as 16 and 18, cause 70 percent of cervical cancers and lesions.

Cervical cancer is currently ranked as the second-most common cancer among women in the country. It is also ranked as the most common cancer among women aged between 15 and 44 years.

Globally, cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women. In 2018 alone, 18.1 million new cases were diagnosed worldwide, with 9.6 million deaths reported.

The World Health Organisation says that there are three types of HPV vaccines. These include the bivalent, quadrivalent, and nonavalent vaccines.

‘All three vaccines are highly efficacious in preventing infection with virus types 16 and 18, which together are responsible for approximately 70 percent of cervical cancer cases globally,’ says the WHO.

WHO explains that the quadrivalent vaccine is also highly efficacious in preventing anogenital warts, which is a common genital disease that is almost always caused by infection with HPV types 6 and 11.

‘The nonavalent vaccine provides additional protection against HPV types 31, 33, 45, 52, and 58,’ states the WHO.

Meanwhile, according to the WHO, HPV vaccination can prevent more than 90 percent of cancers that are caused by HPV infections.

This is echoed by the CDC, which states that with the administration of the HPV vaccine, infections that cause most HPV cancers and genital warts drop by as much as 88 percent among teenage girls and 81 percent among young adult women.

Source: Kenya News Agency

The Medical fraternity in Machakos County has withdrawn their strike notice issued on the 26th June 2023 after they received 422 promotion letters at the Machakos level 5 Hospital.

This comes after the health workers in Machakos under the umbrella of Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union (KMPDU), had threatened to down their tools if the County Administration failed to address their concerns.

The completion of the promotion exercise was by the department of Health and the County Public Service Board.

The County Executive Member for Health, Dr. Daniel Yumbya was speaking at the Machakos level 5 as they handed over the 422 promotion letters, he hailed the County Public Service board and Human Resource department for their sleepless nights as they gathered all data that was required to make the promotions a success

‘I would like to thank the efforts of the Health Department especially the HR and the County Public Service Board as they compiled all the information that was required,’ said Yumbya.

The Chair of the Public Service Board Ulbanus Mutisya was present and pointed out that they were happy they managed to produce 422 letters of promotion before the strike deadline which was next week.

He said as the PSB they are happy to handover the promotion letters to the health sector so that they can be distributed to their rightful owners in different departments.

Mutisya also thanked the Union Officials who supported them and gave them time to finish their task before the day of the planned strike.

Source: Kenya News Agency

Japanese government in partnership with Mt. Kenya University has established a Sh380 million state-of-the-art research laboratory that will help in conducting scientific research on Malaria.

The facility, established at the university’s Thika main campus, will be used to research on both traditional and conventional medicine that can completely eradicate malaria in the country, which is one of major killer disease in the country.

Japan’s ambassador to Kenya Okaniwa Ken underscored the need to weed out the disease that has continued to become a persistent challenge despite efforts to eradicate it.

Speaking in Thika during the launch of the facility, the ambassador said the collaboration and the facility will be a major milestone in reigniting the fight against the dreaded disease.

He said the disease and the mosquitoes have over time changed tact and developed resistance to drugs, thus a need for more deeply enhanced research methodology to come up with drugs that can eradicate it.

He further said the research will be on areas of DNA, analysis of people’s situation, and whether the available vaccines were still effective.

‘We have some ongoing research in Homabay County where the disease is prominent. The researchers will work closely with those at this facility to come up with new drugs, ‘ Okaniwa said.

While emphasizing on the enhanced partnerships between his country and Kenya, the ambassador said the initiative will scale up activities and help reduce the Malaria prevalence by 2030.

He added that Japan has been leading in the fight against Malaria around the world and that they are working with other partners including Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) and the Ministry of Health.

MKU’s Pro-Chancellor Vincent Gaitho called on other investors and scientists to take advantage of the ultra-modern facility to advance their research and come up with drug manufacturing companies saying that the University had no plans to start manufacturing drugs.

Gaitho however said Mt Kenya University will take the lead in developing strategies in areas of innovation and research allowing an exchange program in collaborative research, training, and capacity building.

He said the new collaboration aims to eradicate the disease which claims thousands of lives annually, especially small children and newborn babies.

‘With the equipment at the facility and through research on mosquitoes, people, and environments, researchers will be able to come up with effective drugs both conventional and traditional, ‘ Gaitho said.

Source: Kenya News Agency

The Ministry of Health (MoH) has presented the National Cancer Control Programme (NCCP) 2023-2027, which will guide the country to put forward specific priority interventions towards cancer prevention and control based on existing disease burden, risk factor prevalence, global focal areas that are adapted to local context and available resources.

Health Cabinet Secretary (CS) Susan Nakhumicha said that the research control program is very critical since it is the 3rd National Cancer Control Strategy in the country.

‘The NCCP demonstrates that the Government is committed to cancer control and prevention. The Constitution of Kenya with the bottom-up agenda will remain focused on delivering health care,’ said Nakhumicha.

In a speech read on her behalf by the State Department for Medical Services Principal Secretary (PS) Harry Kimtai during the event on Friday, Nakhumicha said that the document launched is well aligned with Kenya’s Vision 2030.

‘There is a high cost of cancer treatment and low survival rates. NCCP will strengthen the health sector and create public awareness of cancer,’ she voiced.

According to the CS, the Ministry has been inspired by the milestones it has achieved towards cancer with many success stories about collaborations.

World Health Organisation (WHO) Country Representative Abdourahmanne Diallo said that the WHO continues to support member states to promote national cancer control policies, plans, and programs that are harmonized with strategies for Non-Communicable Diseases and other related health concerns.

As a technical agency, Diallo announced that WHO set norms and standards for cancer control including the development of evidence-based prevention, early diagnosis, screening, treatment, and palliative and survivorship care programs, as well as, to promote monitoring and evaluation through cancer registries and research that are tailored to the local disease burden and available resources.

‘Between 30-50% of all cancer cases are preventable and we all know that prevention offers the most cost-effective long-term strategy for the control of cancer. WHO provides support to Member States towards strengthening national policies and programs to raise awareness and, reduce exposure to cancer risk factored to adopt healthy lifestyles,’ he added.

Diallo, in a speech read on his behalf by the Head of Communicable and Non-Communicable Cluster at WHO Kenya, Dr. Iheoma Onuekwusi, remarked that WHO works with governments to ensure quality cancer treatment is available and to promote the availability and affordability of quality, safe and effective medicines, vaccines, and diagnostics for cancer which is essential to achieving Sustainable Development Goals and reducing premature mortality from cancer and other non-communicable diseases by one third.

‘Together we can promote healthy lifestyles, prevent cancer, put measures in place for early detection, effectively treat and cure cancer, and provide quality life through palliative care,’ Diallo reiterated.

He maintained that the WHO will continue providing the necessary support for the prevention and control of cancer in the country.

In his own remarks, the acting Director General of Health Dr Patrick Amoth said that NCCP has 5 pillars including awareness creation.

He stressed that cancer investments require a lot of resources to change the cancer narrative and assured that the Ministry will prioritize measures that will fight against cancer.

Source: Kenya News Agency

Tree-Nurseries have contributed to the creation of jobs for the youth since President William Ruto launched a 15 billion tree planting initiative for the next 10 years.

Since the directive was issued about five months ago, the establishment of tree nurseries alongside the roads and river-banks has immensely increased lately.

Private tree nursery owners have been earning a lot as demand for trees in institutions including schools and colleges has soared in line with the initiative.

Nampaso Daniel, a youth in Narok, who owns a tree nursery, said the business has been booming adding: ‘Starting a tree nursery doesn’t require someone to incur a lot of expenses and no skills are required. I can say, the business is simple even though, one may require to understand tree species.’

An understanding of tree species, Nampaso added will help in guiding starters which tree seedlings are in high demand, which species to plant in specific areas and climate conditions under which various tree species do well.

Nampaso solely started the nursery in 2019 but now employs six youths in her nursery alongside the Narok River in Narok town.

‘I have employed six youths; two being security guards working on shifts, two who help in watering seedlings, one that manages the operations of the nursery and another that sells the seedlings,’ said Nampaso.

She described the tree-nursery business as a source of income for the owners and their many employees.

On her part, a youth from Narok town who also owns a tree nursery Annlynne Sanaipei, noted that she normally sells over 500 tree seedlings daily during rainy seasons, which translates to over Sh.10,000 profit. ‘During rainy seasons, we make lots of profits, because the demand is higher than dry seasons,’ added Sanaipei.

However, Sanaipei regretted that they face challenges in the business including livestock feeding on their tree seedlings, theft of seedlings at night and harsh weather conditions among others.

Sanaipei urged the government through the Ministry of Agriculture to support them by purchasing these tree seedlings and planting them in schools’ compounds and other government premises.

She advised the youth to venture into tree nursery business to empower themselves economically.

One of her workers, Mary Waiguru had this to say: ‘Some of us are earning a living through working in these tree-nurseries. Like now we’re four working here in Sanaipei Tree nursery.’

She said understanding tree species in the nurseries helps the workers to assist buyers in terms of viability of specific species for specific environments, so that the buyers get maximum benefits from the seedlings. This understanding ensures more seedlings grow to maturity in the specific correct regions they are planted.

On the other hand, the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Forestry through Kenya Forest Service (KFS) recently advertised the recruitment of 4,000 unskilled tree nursery attendants across the country.

Source: Kenya News Agency

The group of Sub-Saharan migrants stranded at the borders in Ben Guerdane of Medenine Governorate have all been relocated to secure facilities, enabling them to receive necessary medical and psychological care, Medenine Governor Said ben Zayed told TAP on Tuesday.

“This is a humanitarian operation driven by the sole duty of humanity and is in line with the well-entrenched values in Tunisia’s history,» emphasised the governor.

He further mentioned the interventions carried out for the group of migrants in the border area, conducted by teams of Tunisian Red Crescent volunteers who were deployed to the field last Sunday to provide the necessary care.

As a reminder, the transfer operation of a group of 450 Sub-Saharan migrants stranded in the border zone in Ben Guerdane commenced on Monday morning, with a number of the migrants being directed to the governorates of Medenine and Tataouine.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Seychelles and India will explore new avenues of cooperation, especially in specialised training and the sharing of knowledge from military experts, said the Foreign Affairs Department.

According to a communique from the Department, the new areas were part of a discussion held between the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Tourism of Seychelles, Sylvestre Radegonde, and the Joint Secretary from the Ministry of External Affairs of India, Puneet Agrawal.

Training through joint military exercises, sharing of knowledge from military experts deputised at the Seychelles Coast Guard, maritime surveillance, assistance on community projects and capacity building in various fields were the main points discussed during the courtesy call.

Radegonde expressed his gratitude to India for the continued support offered to Seychelles throughout the years.

“I cannot express how grateful Seychelles is for the multifaceted assistance the Indian government has provided to its citizens, especially in capacity building through scholarships as well as short-term courses. We hope to continue to count on India’s support in this regard,” he said.

On his side, Agrawal said, “The government of India is always ready to provide support to the government of Seychelles, be it in the form of specialised or customised training that will cater to the needs of the country.”

Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, agreed that there is scope for future collaboration in other fields namely information technology, digital interface and payment initiatives, visa waiver for short-term stay, and hydrography.

Radegonde also touched on the challenges and vulnerabilities of small island developing states (SIDS) such as Seychelles, categorised as middle or high-income countries, and, therefore, not eligible to access concessional finance.

He said that the creation of a multidimensional vulnerability index (MVI) would allow Seychelles to gain access to concessional financing to mitigate these effects.

India is one of Seychelles’ oldest and closest military partners, having provided patrol ships, aircraft and helicopters to its defence forces over the years since the country gained independence from Britain in 1976.

Seychelles also has a large Indian diaspora and numerous Seychellois of Indian origin, as well as descendants from many generations in the French and British colonial eras.

Over the years, the two countries have developed strong trade, education, health sector and cultural ties.

Source: Seychelles News Agency

Kenya is among 12 countries across different regions of Africa that are set to receive 18 million doses of the first-ever malaria vaccine over the next two years.

The first doses of the vaccine are expected to arrive in countries during the last quarter of 2023, with countries starting to roll them out by early 2024.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) in a statement, the rollout is a critical step forward in the fight against one of the leading causes of death on the continent, and the allocation round will make use of the supply of vaccine doses available to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, via UNICEF.

Apart from Kenya, other countries that will receive the doses are Ghana, Malawi, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Niger, Sierra Leone, and Uganda.

‘This vaccine has the potential to be very impactful in the fight against malaria, and when broadly deployed alongside other interventions, it can prevent tens of thousands of future deaths every year,’ said Thabani Maphosa, Managing Director of Country Programmes Delivery at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

He noted that while they work with manufacturers to help ramp up supply, there is a need to make sure the doses that they have are used as effectively as possible, which means applying all the learnings from their pilot programmes as they also broaden out to a new total of 12 countries.

Kenya, Ghana, and Malawi have since 2019 been delivering the malaria vaccine through the Malaria Vaccine Implementation Programme (MVIP), coordinated by WHO and funded by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, and United.

The RTS,S/AS01 vaccine, the first vaccine recommended to prevent malaria in children, has been administered to more than 1.7 million children in the three countries and has been shown to be safe and effective, resulting in both a substantial reduction in severe malaria and a fall in child deaths.

In Kenya, the three-year-old pilot implemented in September 2019 made the vaccine available to children in eight counties in the Western and Nyanza regions, targeting 1.2 million children.

The other nine countries, apart from Kenya, Ghana, and Malawi, will be introducing the vaccine into their routine immunization programmes for the first time.

UNICEF Associate Director of Immunization Ephrem T. Lemango said that nearly every minute, a child under 5 years old dies of malaria, and for a long time, these deaths have been preventable and treatable.

‘The roll-out of this vaccine will give children, especially in Africa, an even better chance at surviving. As supply increases, we hope even more children can benefit from this life-saving advancement,’ he said.

Dr. Kate O’Brien, WHO Director of Immunization, Vaccines, and Biologicals, said that the malaria vaccine is a breakthrough to improve child health and child survival, and families and communities, rightly, want this vaccine for their children.

‘This first allocation of malaria vaccine doses is prioritized for children at highest risk of dying of malaria,’ she said, adding that the high demand for the vaccine and the strong reach of childhood immunization will increase equity in access to malaria prevention and save many young lives.

According to a report by the Ministry of Health in Kenya, Malaria remains a major public health problem and accounted for an estimated six per cent of outpatient consultations in 2021. It remains one of Africa’s deadliest diseases, killing nearly half a million children under the age of 5, and accounting for approximately 95 per cent of global malaria cases and 96 per cent of deaths in 2021.

WHO says that vaccine allocations have been determined through the application of the principles outlined in the Framework for Allocation of Limited Malaria Vaccine Supply that prioritise those doses to areas of highest need, where the risk of malaria illness and death among children are highest. At least 28 African countries have expressed interest in receiving the malaria vaccine.

Annual global demand for malaria vaccines is estimated at 40 to 60 million doses by 2026 alone, growing to 80 to 100 million doses each year by 2030. Gavi has recently outlined its roadmap to support increasing supply to meet demand.

Source: Kenya News Agency

The African continent needs to build citizens’ confidence in vaccine science to reverse misinformation, disinformation, and myths associated with COVID-19.

The myths, misinformation, and disinformation went viral, reversing the gains made by partners in the fight against the pandemic.

Agakhan Graduate School of Media and Communication (GSMC), during a sensitisation forum for journalists from Western Kenya who converged in Kisumu to spearhead the fight against vaccine hesitancy while demystifying myths and misconceptions, noted that with such confidence, citizens are able to adapt and make informed choices.

Led by Prof. Obi Obiero Odhiambo and Dr. James Ndonye, both of GSMC, through the sponsorship of the German Finance Corporation and Aga Khan University, the forum held an interesting discourse touching on COVID-19.

The programme is running concurrently in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania to scale up the fight against COVID-19, even as the global trend appears to indicate that the pandemic was on a downward trend.

‘We will do outreach programmes in schools, churches, universities, and middle level colleges. This followed the revelation that only 53% presented themselves to get the jab while 47% others kept off for various reasons,’ he explained.

Dr. Ndonye revealed that AgaKhan University was currently developing a Blueprint for the government of Kenya to prepare itself for a future response in case of another round of COVID-19 strikes.

He concurred with Prof. Obiero that there was a lackluster response to COVID-19 in Kenya, while it was a nightmare trying to access data from the local Health System.

Prof. Obiero said our Health Information System was very weak, unlike the one used in fighting HIV, TB, and malaria, describing the latter as quite robust because it was preferred and funded by foreign partners.

He described a low Ratio between doctors and patients, attributing this to persistent brain drain.

Health stakeholders blamed poor remuneration while doctors, clinicians, and nurses worked non-stop for up to 48 hours.

Kenya has ‘brick and mortar’ in terms of equipment, buildings, and machines, but all these are tied to procurement, which is quite laborious and a hardnut to crack while seeking drugs and vaccines, argued Obiero.

In relation to Health financing, he said most African countries performed dismally, yet the Abuja Declaration required each country to set aside 5% of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for Health.

Ironically, Kenya, which is said to have done well in light of having set aside 1.3% of their budgetary allocation to Health against the set standard of 5%, and other countries in the continent are all below 1%,’ explained the don.

Prof. Obiero said without adequate Health Financing as stipulated in Abuja, we as Third World countries cannot reverse the woes of doctors getting paid less than Members of the County Assemblies (MCAs).

How did Kenyans respond to the coronavirus? Was it willingness or skepticism? He questioned the prevailing narrative on COVID-19, with 767, 518, 723 confirmed cases and 6,947,192 deaths globally.

This is why the duo agreed that Risk Management and Communication to mitigate against the Corona virus were vital at an early stage before the pandemic escalated into a global crisis.

Responding to question-and-answer sessions, the duo said that in Africa, a total of 1137.4 million vaccine doses were received, but only 1084.5 million vaccines were administered.

Prof. Obiero said vaccine apartheid and politics around COVID-19 vaccines greatly frustrated the fight against the pandemic. Whereas some commercialized it, others simply sidelined the African continent.

There are several types of vaccines; protein-based, viral-based, Ribonucleic Acid (RNA), and Deoxyribo-Nucleic acid (DNA), which is the hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms. RNA forms part of the DNA of a human being.

Source: Kenya News Agency