By Bell Pere
The Narok county Director of public health Daniel Sironga led various stakeholders in a forum to promote and improve sanitation in the county by building and ensuring every household has a modern toilet.
Speaking at an event held in Laluk, in Mulot, Narok West in an aim to voice out sanitation, Sironga said that the health ministry aims at improving sanitation through sensitizing the society on the need for proper toilets by the year 2020.
“With the launching of a brick machine ‘Magika’ that will help the residents make bricks, interlocking blocks, and use the bricks to build modern toilets where one will be able to flash even with a cup of water. All this is to ensure that Narok County can achieve a free sanitary environment by 2020,” added Director Sironga.
Out of 2000 villages in Narok County, 86 villages have been fully integrated into the program.
With the county losing over 800 million every year from diseases related to diarrhea and vomiting, Sironga said that more plans from the public health to enhance sanitation within the resident’s home were underway with an expectation to reduce sanitation related diseases together with cost related in treating them.
“Every year the county uses 840 million in dealing with these diseases whereas we can actually avoid some diseases if hygiene is observed and allocate that money in other projects. In the 86 villages that are fully integrated, the infection rate has decreased with a great margin. With children being the most vulnerable to such diseases, the number has lessen,” he added.
Through the help of AMREF, the county is set to expand its campaign throughout the villages in the county and achieve its target by next year in an effort to improve waste management and avoid peril of disease outbreak.
This comes after the recent reports of cholera outbreak within Narok county earlier this year.
The Director of AMREF, Daniel Kurau pledged his supportin partnering with the county in undertaking the various projects including that of improving health and sanitation.
“My organization will continue to offer our support. Health is a crucial intrinsic in our lives that cannot be ignored. We will work hand in hand with the County Government to ensure proper sanitation is achieved,” said director Karau.
The residents expressed their exhilaration to the county for their machine donation saying it will aid in numerous ways.
“We’re grateful to the county for this program. When they first launched it, not many people were involved. But by now 70% of Semaiyan Ward is incorporated. Since we started building the toilets in our homes, there are less cases of children getting sick and the school turn up has immensely improved,” said one of the local residents.
Sitienei Narok County Housing chief officer also gave out his support saying that his office would be in dispensable to the program.
“I applaud the health ministry for this move. Poor toilets have for long been an issue in this county which has severally led to spread of diseases among the people. My office will fully incorporate with the county health office to improve sanitation in our county.” he said.