Kenya’s minister for public health and Sanitation, Beth Mugo has disclosed that a fresh cholera outbreak in the country has claimed 50 lives in the past week alone, while 110 cases have been confirmed in the country, local media reported.
The minister attributed this to lack of water, ineffective sanitation systems, poverty and ignorance among other issues.
At the same time she said 190 cases had been confirmed in the last month and 119 deaths, mainly in East Pokot in northern Kenya, where 17 people lost their lives in the past two weeks.
“We can never control cholera until we all decide we will live in a hygienic manner,” she told a press conference at her offices.
“So no medical intervention will bring down cholera or eliminate it until we all decide we are going to live hygienically,” privately owned capital FM radio quoted the minister as saying.
Last week alone, nine inmates died cholera at Kamiti Maximum prison in the outskirts of Nairobi over poor hygienic conditions.
Source African Press Agency
