Lodwar, 2nd September 2024 (Public Communications and Media Relations)

County Department of Health and Sanitation is set address the significant upsurge in malaria cases, with a renewed focus on data-driven strategies.

This comes in the wake of alarming data from 12 health facilities across Loima, Lokiriama, and Turkana Central Sub-counties, which revealed an increase in malaria cases. This data had been verified by a team from Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program (FELTP), under the National Ministry of Health.

The FELTP team, which spent 8 days in the field, then were able to disseminate the data to the County Executive for Health and Sanitation Longole Wangiros and Chief Officer for Preventive and Promotive Cathra Abdi.

“Our decisions should now be firmly based on data, ensuring that our resources are allocated where they are most needed,” said Health County Executive.

He further noted that on-the-job training on recording keeping was required as the dissemination had revealed that was discrepancies in the skills among the staff.

The FELTP team lead, Raphael Nyawa, shared that they had observed 13 new malaria cases within two hours at the Naotin Dispensary in Turkana Central, highlighting the upsurge.

According to the Kenya Health Information System, in 2024 June and July the county reported 76,516 positive malaria cases.

In response to the upsurge, the county health department is also seeking to strengthen the Community Epidemic Preparedness and Response to better manage the upsurges.

The County Malaria Coordinator, David Ekai, added that the program had conducted mentorship sessions aimed at improving the diagnosis and classification of malaria cases in some of the facilities.