Katilia – March 26th, 2025 (Public Communications and Media Relations)
Residents of Katilia and Lokori/Kochodin Wards in Turkana East Sub-county are set to benefit from improved healthcare services following the official handover of two sites for the construction of new dispensaries.
Currently, the sub-county has only 14 county health facilities serving a population of 168,000. The limited number of dispensaries has been attributed to the community’s highly mobile pastoralism livelihood, driven by insecurity in the area.
However, the emergence of semi-permanent settlements has created a growing demand for accessible healthcare services.
Speaking at the handover event, Janerose Tioko, Chief Officer for Preventive and Promotive Health, confirmed that the county government’s commitment to strengthening healthcare infrastructure, particularly in hard-to-reach areas.
“These facilities will bring essential medical services closer to the people, reducing the need for long and costly travel to distant health facilities,” said Tioko.
In Lokabalabalae in Katila Ward, where a significant number of people have settled, residents previously had to walk approximately 16 kilometers to access the nearest health facility. In Lokori/Kochodin’s Lotubae, those in the farthest villages traveled up to eight kilometers to reach a county-run dispensary.
The new dispensaries will serve as hubs for the community health services which play vital role in improving immunization coverage, antenatal care, post-antenatal, and overall health demand creation through sensitization.
“The community health promoters sensitise the community on available health services, which I realized in the recent upsurge of kalaazar patients seeking medical attention in the health facilities in the sub-county,” said Moses Elim, the Turkana East Sub-county Medical Officer of Health.