|
| PROGRAMMES: | | | | | HORN OF AFRICA FLOODS |
  
Kenya EthiopiaSomalia |
HORN OF AFRICA FLOODS Background
The Horn of Africa has, for centuries been a region in turmoil. Crisis is never far from any one of these countries and strikes in the form of natural and man-made disasters. Ethiopia is regularly stricken by drought and Somalia is regularly ravaged by floods. Kenya is often affected by both. Security in the region is unpredictable as a direct result of political power struggles, cross-border disputes, and endemic corruption. |
| |
The Crisis
The current humanitarian crisis is due to widespread flooding resulting from heavy rains after a period of sustained drought. The worst and most frequently affected regions in north eastern and coastal Kenya. The Tana River in Kenya has burst it’s banks earlier in the year and is now suffering renewed heavy rains rendering large areas of land uninhabitable. An estimated 200,000 people in Kenya were left homeless from recent floods and new floods are threatening to strike some of the same areas again now. |
| Displaced Kenyans carry their belongings though flood waters of Tana River in Garissa, northern Kenya, near the Somali border, in December 2006. |
Reuters/David Yussuf |
| Epidemic outbreaks of diseases are of great concern in these regions and especially under these circumstances. There is an immediate INCREASED RISK of faecal-oral infections and vector borne diseases either waterborne or water bred. While flood waters remain deep the greatest risk will be from those faecal-oral diseases with low infectious doses, i.e. typhoid fever, shigellosis and polio (vaccination coverage rates are estimated at 70% by the UN and this is too low to prevent transmission). |
Reuters/Pool |
| Once the water levels go down then cholera and malaria vectors will have ideal conditions in which to multiply en mass. Outbreaks of these two diseases will present the highest risk to the populations recovering from the floods and those suffering from renewed flooding in the east and coastal areas. |
The MENTOR Initiative's response
In 2004 The Ministry of Health (MoH) Division of Malaria Contol (DMOC) in Kenya adopted a new effective national treatment protocol using artemisinin based combination therapy (ACTs) to counter the parasite resistance experienced in mono therapeutic treatment of malaria. The actual roll out of this new protocol only began in September 2006 and nationwide implementation is still in an infancy stage. Like with many other services, the hard to reach areas, such as the North Eastern Province, have been sidelined, some of which have been affected by the floods. The MENTOR Initiative has been supporting the MoH/DMOC at their invitation by increasing access to effective malaria case management based on the new national malaria treatment protocols at existing health facilities and through mobile outreach services in Tana River and Garissa Districts including the Dadaab Refugee Camps. Scaling up of health workers’ adherence to the new malaria control protocols has been achieved with the use of essential case management tools for both uncomplicated and severe malaria that have been regularly supplied and distributed by The MENTOR Initiative to the affected regions; malaria case management training, activity coaching and supervision; and ongoing malaria surveillance and reporting. The result is the increased ability by these health personnel to address the potentially large numbers of malaria cases that were expected after the emergency and in subsequent months with predicted seasonal peaks of malaria during the rainy seasons.
Malaria vector control efforts have been widely scaled up in 16 districts of the country where malaria is endemic as part of the GF (Global Fund) programme, but the main flood affected areas have not been included. The MENTOR Initiative has been working in close partnership with the MoH/DMOC team, UNICEF, WHO, UNHCR, GTZ, CARE, The Kenya Red Cross (KRC), other NGOs and CBOs and the communities present in the affected areas. We have provided essential materials and technical and operational support to train, equip, mobilise and supervise large local community teams for rapid implementation of large-scale effective malaria emergency prevention programmes through indoor residual spaying (IRS), long lasting insecticide treated net (LLITNs) distributions amongst the most at risk communities. Malaria education strategies were developed to sensitize communities to LLITN use and IRS before prevention campaigns. Culturally appropriate posters, dramas, videos and radio messages were designed and disseminated throughout the two districts and incorporated the MoH/DMOC key malaria prevention messages.
Emergency targets have been achieved by The MENTOR Initiative for vulnerable communities in North Eastern Province, Garissa and Tana River Districts” With the success of the initial programme, plans are now underway to extend and expand support to the most vulnerable communities in the other districts in North Eastern Province and flood affected Coast Province: Lamu, Modogashe, Ijara and Wajir, and to those fleeing persecution in Somali who arrive at the Liboi Transit Camp. MENTOR will continue to provide technical assistance, prevention activities, case management and scaling up of surveillance in Garissa, Tana River and the Dadaab Refugee Camps.
As an added benefit to the programme, The MENTOR Initiative and its highly trained and effective team of 4 international and 40 national staff will be available to rapidly respond to other malaria emergencies within Kenya if the threat arises. For a limited time the programme can respond with short term support to boost local capacity outside of the programme region as dictated by need and resources on the ground. |
|
|
|
