Lodwar – October 21, 2025 (Public Communications and Media Relations)

The County Executive for Health and Sanitation, Dr Esekon Joseph Epem hosted a delegation from the Catholic Relief Services to discuss the impact of the just concluded fourth and final cycle of 2025 Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC). This is the second round in Turkana Central and the first cycle in Turkana West (Kakuma and Kalobeyei settlements).

According to data from the Kenya Health Information System, Turkana experiences a surge of malaria cases between June and October. During this period, 65% of all reported malaria cases reported, 30% are children under five years old.

The leading sub-counties with high Malaria burden are Turkana West, Turkana Central, larger Loima, and Turkana South.

Implemented by the County Government and supported by Catholic Relief Services, UNHCR, Kenya Red Cross Society, and International Rescue Committee, in 2025 alone, this project reached at least 35,000 children in Turkana West.

Moi University and Duke University are currently conducting a joint assessment on the impact in Turkana West.

The purpose of this visit was for the CRS team to discuss a way forward with the County Government for the next cycle in 2026, which has since been affected by funding cuts following the Stop-Work order.

“We are ready to scale up the interventions, but we have limited resources. The initial plan was to need to extend to 2026, but with no certainty to extend currently due to funding cuts,” said Dr. Edwin Mbugua, Health Sector Lead at CRS in Turkana.

Dr Mbugua also added that the current partners will support Turkana West, but there is a need to continue interventions in Turkana Central as well. “Without SMC interventions, the cases will spiral in Turkana Central,”

Dr Epem affirmed the County Malaria Coordinator, David Ekai’s statement that Turkana is one of the pioneers of the SMC in Kenya, “SMC is an intervention we need and to embrace in Turkana.”

Dr Epem highlighted that the department is leading with providing the human resources needed to implement the SMC interventions. He howeve,r added that depending on the budget, the county government may support SMC drugs and mobilize transportation within the affected sub-counties.

“We need to focus on the high-burdened sub-counties and assess the needed support in each of them, so that we are in a better position to advise,”

At the end of the meeting, Dr Mbugua handed over six laptops donated by CRS to support the County’s Malaria Program. He also mentioned that CRS will be donating 100 smartphones to support Community Health Promoters in Turkana Central and increase their capacity.

The County Pharmacist, Dr Brian Muyokani , and CRS team members — Elizabeth Ayoma (Health Program Manager) and Victor Osiare (Monitoring and Evaluation Officer) were also present.