Lodwar – May 7, 2026 (Public Communication and Media Relations)

The County Government, in collaboration with The Fred Hollows Foundation (FHF), held a two-day Trachoma Microplanning targeting both County and Sub-County Health Management Teams. Participants included Medical Officers of Health (MOHs), eye care coordinators, pharmacists, focal persons, and public health officers from Turkana North, Kibish, and Suguta sub-counties.

The targeted sub-counties were selected due to the high prevalence of Trachoma Trachiasis (TT) and Trachomatous Inflammation–Follicular (TF), as per the findings of the Surveillance Survey and Rapid Assessment of Avoidable Blindness conducted in Turkana North and Kibish between 2024 and 2025.

The meeting precedes a three-day TF Targeted Drug Administration to children (TDA) campaign scheduled to begin on May 25, 2026, in the hotspot villages within Turkana North and Kibish sub-counties, with a 100 percent coverage target. A full geographical coverage exercise for TT in Suguta sub-county is expected to follow thereafter.

The TDA campaign will target children between zero months and nine years, as well as expectant mothers. The drugs to be administered include Azithromycin tablets for children aged eight to nine years, Azithromycin syrup for children aged six months to seven years, and 1% Tetracycline Eye Ointment (TEO) for infants between zero and six months and pregnant women.

The exercise will focus on Kokuro and Lokitaung locations in Turkana North and Lapur Ward in Kibish. National and county administration officers, healthcare workers, chiefs, village administrators, Community Health Assistants (CHAs), and Community Health Promoters (CHPs) will all participate in the campaign.

Additionally, following the completion of the two-day training and microplanning sessions, selected County Health Management Team (CHMT) members and sub-county eye care teams including MOHs from Turkana North, East, South, Central, West, Kibish, and Aroo sub-counties were further capacity-built on financial management to strengthen service delivery and accountability.

The intervention will also include mapping and mobilisation of the most affected villages, enhanced support supervision, training of CHAs and CHPs, data collection, security coordination, review meetings, and mop-up plans for villages that may not attain full coverage within the three-day campaign period.

Speaking during the forum, the Chief Officer for Preventive and Promotive Health Services, Agnes Mana, emphasised the importance of sustained partnerships in supporting healthcare delivery across the county.

She highlighted that eliminating trachoma requires more than treatment alone as it demands strong coordination, timely interventions, community ownership, and a health system that reaches even the most remote populations.

“Support from partners such as FHF remains critical to the well-being of our communities, especially at a time when many programmes have been affected by reduced funding.
We must continue working together to ensure essential services reach our people, particularly those in remote and underserved areas,” she said.

The Director for Preventive and Promotive Health Services, Daniel Esimit, assured healthcare workers and partners of the county’s commitment to addressing operational challenges and improving coordination.

“Through this microplanning process, we are strengthening our preparedness, improving accountability, and ensuring that no vulnerable child or household is left behind in the fight against preventable blindness,” he said recognising the partner support while calling for strengthened turnaround times, “the continuous improvement in turnaround times will strengthen staff morale as we work together towards eliminating preventable blindness in Turkana,”

County Eye Care Coordinator Samson Lokele facilitated the meeting and highlighted the continued partnership with The Fred Hollows Foundation, noting its impact in strengthening eye health services in the county.

He also pointed out existing gaps towards the complete eradication of trachoma and related eye diseases and called for stronger institutional support for sub-county eye care coordinators.

“As we strengthen eye health services, it is important that sub-county eye care coordinators are formally recognised and integrated within the Sub-County Health Management Teams. This will improve coordination, accountability, and service delivery at the grassroots level,” he stated.

Sarah Olalo, the FHF Technical Advisor for Integrated People Centred Eye Care/ Trachoma emphasised the importance of evidence-based planning.

“Everything we are doing in this microplanning meeting must be guided by evidence from the surveys conducted, which clearly identified the hotspot areas requiring urgent intervention,” she noted.

Echoing the campaign focus, Samson Lokele reiterated the need for targeted interventions.

“We are focusing on the most affected areas and prioritising children between six months and nine years to ensure we interrupt transmission and protect future generations from avoidable blindness,” he said.

John Soine called on stakeholders to remain committed to achieving full coverage during the TDA exercise. “Trachoma causes irreversible blindness, and if we achieve full coverage, the long-term benefits to the community will be significant. At the end of the day, we are doing this for the sake of our communities,” he stated.

The Deputy Director for Strategic Health Programmes, Rotich Kipkorir stressed the importance of community involvement.

“The commitment demonstrated over the last two days gives us confidence that the MDA exercise will succeed. To achieve the planned 100 percent coverage, we must work closely with CHPs, kraal leaders, chiefs, village administrators, and all stakeholders,” he said.

Separately, during the finances management meeting, The FHF team using a successful model from Embu County, shared the new financial management and documentation procedures aimed at improving efficiency and accountability in programme implementation. Participants agreed on the need for timely compilation and sharing of documents to enable faster processing of remittances and payments for field activities.

During the discussions, MOHs and eye care coordinators shared recommendations on improving financial management, documentation processes, communication, payment schedules, and greater involvement of sub-county leadership during planning and implementation of activities. The raised concerns were addressed by the FHF team in a move to encourage continued collaboration.

The Chief Officer reassured the team of smooth operations of all eye care activities calling on them to

Also present were James Ekamais (County NTDs Coordinator), CPA Livingstone Eyanae (Senior Accountant) from the Department of Health and Moses Wang’ang’a, Collince Ogada, Dismas Wamukoya from The Fred Hollows Foundation.