Cost of Anti-Malarial Drugs must remain low

Cost of Anti-Malarial Drugs must remain low

Chrispory Juma
Recent reports that the cost of anti-malarial drugs, popularly known as ACT (Artemisinin Combination Therapy) would go up as from next year threaten to derail on the already great strides made in the fight against Malaria.

Despite our metropolitan capital and stable international reputation, malaria remains on of the biggest donor recipients in the Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation. Inspite of the numerous efforts, the scourge continues to be the number one killer disease for pregnant mothers and the children under five years of age. 

Globally, malaria impacts 247 million people, 212 million in Africa alone. According to the Global Malaria Action Plan, Kenya is among the top five countries affected by malaria

The Kenyan National Malaria Strategy focuses on four main interventions, namely, vector control (LLITNs-Long Lasting Insecticide Treated Nets, IRS-Indoor Residual Spraying), prompt and effective treatment (ACT-Artenisinin Combination Therapy), malaria prevention during pregnancy and disaster preparedness and response. In a country where cure is more prioritized than prevention, increase in the prices of ACTs would deal malaria treatment a major blow.
With few Malaria diagnostic and screening centres, many Kenyans' hopes lie in Pharmacies and Hospitals, which they hope shall continue to provide subsidized ACTs. Even if the subsidized ACTs were meant for a pilot study, anti-malarial drugs must continue to be accessible, affordable and effective. For poverty stricken families in Western Kenya regions where Malaria is endemic (cases are present throughout the year), the government must do something. It would not be feasible to spend Kshs. 300 for anti-malarial drugs with the rising standards of living. This would open lee-ways for cartels to not only sell counterfeits but also cash in on vulnerable Kenyans.

The writer is an intern with the Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation, Homa Bay County.

Have we given up on Lake Victoria?

Have we given up on Lake Victoria?

Chrispory Juma Ombuya

Historians say that Lake Victoria is 400,000 years old and over this period, it has dried up four times, the most recent being 17,000 years ago. A visit to the lakeside anytime now would tempt you to feel that the lake is most likely to dry up again in our generation when we have the manpower and capital to thwart any attempt that would endanger the existence of a lake which is not only the pride of Africa but also a source of livelihoods to millions of people in the East African Community.

The Lake is has become grossly infested with Water Hyacinth weeds, which have virtually turned the fresh water into a green zone. The water has turned green with other weeds also taking the opportunity to turn the once beautiful lake into a plantation. Lots of money has been poured in to Hyacinth control with many interventions tried out. A number of governmental and non-governmental agencies have been created to deal with this menace. One begs to know if all those have failed now that the weed is back to choke our lake with wanton abandon.

Is it high time we went back to the drawing board to find a lasting solution to this menace because with it, comes pollution, hampered transport system, eyesore scenery, reduced aquatic population, poor water supply and increased occurrence of Malaria (respiration). As a resident of Homa Bay town, I will confirm to you that these effects have become obvious with biting water shortages and increased mosquito infestation the wordings in everyone’s lips.

Amidst this major epidemic environmental threat to our lake, there lie concerning attacks on the lake’s ecosystem that authorities have decided to turn a blind eye on. There is continued encroachment on the lake by farmers, discharge of sewage into the lake, silting by incoming river waters and illegal fishing methods. We must re-energies ourselves and reactivate our systems for the protection of Lake Victoria or else its drying up overtime will become a reality in our lifetime again.

The writer is a Graduate Public Health Intern, Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation, Homa Bay District.

Health Workers are enemies amongst themselves

Health Workers are enemies amongst themselves

This time round, we again find ourselves amidst Nurses’ strike, which has left horrific agony in our Public Hospitals, ostensibly due to the enormous tasks Nurses partake in the wards. In a nutshell, they are the backbones of any hospital, truth be told.

As usual, the government, in its unsurprising gimmick, has failed to notice the urgency of the moment and address the many genuine issues presented to it by the Nurses but instead, in this century and generation decided to sack people who are discriminated, disgruntled, underpaid, overworked and most of all, in disharmony with certain professional colleagues at work. What country!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But I don’t want to delve into a government which has disregarded its workers (Leaves me wondering how it wants to fulfill vision 2030). I would like to say something about health workers who have continued to disregard one another over the years. Amongst us, we have categorized one another as medics or paramedics, curers or preventers, juniors or seniors…….and forgotten the sole purpose for which we, with our different professional trainings, are called to do: save human life.

I know many will agree with me that divisions amongst health workers start early in college where some students think they study prestigious health programmes like Medicine while the others are just bystanders in the health sector. What do you say of a health programme offered by two universities and the difference in the fees they offer for the same is more than Kshs. 150,000? The graduates from these institutions will never see themselves as equals in the field. These are some of the pertinent issues we have failed look into.

We may be better trained and vastly experienced but it takes character to realize that we are all health care providers, from the Community Health Worker to the whos and whos in the health sector. When the doctors went on strike, at last the government made promises to them, some of which are yet to be fulfilled. Nurses are now threatened with sack. Are other health workers ready to support them? Are we creating a culture where every professional cadre wants to go it alone to agitate for its rights in the streets? That today it is PHOs, tomorrow Lab Technologists and the next day, Nutritionists?

As civil servants in the health sector, health workers must decide to work together. They will have a bigger voice with which to pressurize the government, not only to look into their welfare, but also to improve the working conditions in health institutions. It is logically provided that each of us has roles to play and mutual respect is the way-forward. Our relationship has to be symbiotic if we really have to successfully serve Kenyans. We all want to save life and prevent death.

Chrispory Juma Ombuya,

RTI/IRS,

Intern PHO, Homa Bay District.

Four Walls, Immaculate white Ceiling

Four Walls, Immaculate white Ceiling

Everything was hazy. In fact I had just a silhouette of a memory that ended with the immaculate white ceiling dancing before my eyes. Echoes of silence rang in my ears.
My dizziness steadied and stopped and I grasped just but a grotesque of focus.
The stinging smell of anaesthesia invaded my nostrils and made me fidget violently. It is then that I heard an almost jovial whisper that carved out the words 'he is alive,he just moved. The female whisper was so melodic, so angelic and for a moment I was sure I was dead. Heaven ajar and probably she was actually saying 'Welcome aboard St.PETERS Heavenly Express, Fasten your crowns as we are landing....then I blacked out.
Then it all came to me. The hopelessness, the rope, the not so white ceiling, the coffee table. I remembered changing my mind a little bit too late. Just as I was airborne; then the snap around my neck, the rolling of my eyeballs as life drained from the son of a woman. The overwhelming urge to soil and pee on my pants.
I thought I had snapped out of a terrible nightmare but reality dawned when I felt the sharp pain on my neck. The dream became a memory and the memory became a recollection of history.
I told myself that I had survived for a reason. I did not know what, but there had to be a purpose.
The nurse walked towards me and stretched to touch my forehead. At that point, all the blood flowed from my brain down south. My IQ lowered drastically. The nurse removed her mask and wow!
I knew I had a reason to live but I did not know I would get my epiphany so soon, so unexpected. She was my reason to live. Her fragrance overpowered the smell of all medicine. Then, she giggled.
I swear I died a thousand deaths and still resurrected a thousand and one times(and I had not counted my functional member).
She took my hand to monitor my pulse but I knew she would get a wrong reading. My heart beat had increased tenfold.
Her narrowed Chinese like eyes looked into mine with motherly concern and I understood the reason why men marry their mothers. She was was my mother's incarnation and showered me with what I think were words of encouragement since I was to carried away with her succulent lip movements. I was no longer sick, I was just in love.
She strolled to the next patient swaying her hips like a matatu manouvering a traffic jam along Mombasa road. Too bad I could not raise my neck beyond 45 degrees.
The second time she came, I had practised a number of pick-up lines that abandoned me when she smiled. This time she drew back the curtains as she was giving me an antibiotic injection. It was in our moment of privacy that I told her how beautiful she was. She blushed like a village girl as she pretended to protest but her look showed approval. She retorted that I was not so bad looking too. I swear I knew the hospital would have to forcibly discharge me.
What we had bloomed and I could tell she visited my bedside more often than usual.
We would chat for longer than usual and she always laughed at my jokes, patted me on my shoulder. She joked with me and held my hand even when she wasn't taking my palm reading. She joked with me and held my neck to see how it was doing. We joked, she held my neck to check how it was doing, I tilted my neck and kissed her.
She protested but I did it again with her resistance diminishing. She pulled back and I could see the tears welling up her eyes.
I had two days to go before I was discharged. I had been there for 21 days, but I swear they seemed like 21 seconds. She never showed up on the eve of my discharge. I was shaken and I regretted kissing her on her lips(okay, I did not regret per se) but I was worried. I received a bouquet of roses from my mother on the day but I still felt empty.
My discharge day had come and I had resolved to ask her out on a date at least and follow the conventional dating process. I knew she would come because I was assigned to her and she was the one to discharge me. That day, a smartly dressed doctor walked briskly to my ward with a stethoscope on his neck and looked at my chart.
I was crestfallen. She did not want to see me. Then the doctor looked at my bouquet of roses and asked me I he could take one rose. I absent mindedly obliged.
From a distance I could smell her fragrance and it grew stronger and stronger. Voila! She was standing at my beds tail end. In an instant the doctor moved swiftly into action. On bended knee, rose in hand and a diamond ring sticking out of his palm. She went pale and the smile slowly drained into shock..
My rose had been used to propose to my rose. She looked at me as if seeking my approval but I couldn't look at her. She broke down.
Then I remembered my rope, my coffee table and remembered why I had attempted suicide. It was Suzie. And now I also knew why it was no longer going to be considered an attempt.

Luo Nyanza must respect its leaders

Luo Nyanza must respect its leaders

The latest fracas at a funeral in Oyugis in caused by an attempt to undermine the sitting area MP underscores how the people of Luo Nyanza have continued to undermine their political leaders. Here is where, immediately a person becomes a political leader, a councilor or an MP, he/she becomes  ‘an enemy of the people.’

A survey recently indicated that Luo Nyanza leads with MPs who will never see the next parliament. This is due to their perceived frustration of their people in their failure to achieve their election pledges. As much as we blame our leaders for under-development in this region, let us blame ourselves for frustrating their efforts to spur socio-economic development in Luo Nyanza. Nearly every politician here is not welcome, even in his/her own backyard.

Nyanza is currently the poorest province in this nation. We would quickly point our fingers at our leaders. I wonder if we have really taken time to think of our politics as a people. Politics full of hatred, cynicism, criticism and jealousy. The worst culprits are we, the youth, who have refused to learn no matter what. We have been convinced by our leaders’ opponents to hate them with passion and us eviolence to propel the opponents to power. We are never appreciative of the efforts of our current leaders. We have resorted to changing of leaders like clothes. Think of a person like Tuju, a first time MP, who was ousted due to his lack of sympathy for ODM.

Insecurity for leaders is so grave that some of them have even resorted to violence to protect themselves from the very people who joyously and faithfully voted for them. They are never free men in their territories. Surely, in such an environment, development has never been any easy.

To succeed here, one must not only develop every nook and cranny of his constituency in one term (very impossible), but also publicly worship Raila Odinga. ‘Baba’ must be adored. Moreso during this electioneering period, the stakes are so high. That is why, Orwa Ojode, inspite of his immense development record, is not being talked of well here.

We have been in the ’cold’ for so long. But the warmth of this coalition government should be enough to teach us the virtue of love and unity. We must stop hating our leaders for cheap politics. Good or bad, they are our representatives and it is our responsibility to help them develop our constituencies. As a people, we must realize that development is a concept of collective responsibility where all are stakeholders in cooperation and understanding. When we are united for a purpose with our leaders, we shall pull this region out of poverty.

Chrispory Juma Ombuya,

Chrisjuma1@yahoo.com

Oyugis Town

Kenyan Birds, by Kamau Mbiyu

Kenyan birds

Kenya is home to thousand of species of birds. These include a wide range from birds of prey, seed eaters, fruit eaters, insect eaters and so much more. To any lover of birds, Kenya is a bird watching paradise. Below are a few of the many birds that Kenya has to offer, including their features. It would be great watching them while on safari in Kenya.

Hornbills

The hornbill is most notably known for its casqued beak. They are of mid-size and sometimes large, but mostly have short legs. They are found in savannah and forests. They are usually black and white, but their bills and throats are brightly colored. Most have long eyelashes. They have rather short wings but long tails. They feed on fruits and berries but there are some that eat insects. After mating, the female conceals herself in the nest that is usually on a tree or cliff with mud, leaving just a small cavity through which the male feeds her and the young ones for a number of weeks. This goes on until the young are able to fly.

Crow

Crows are numerously found around human habitation and are unmistakably known for their loud raucous calls. Crows have patches of white, grey or brown. Their bills are heavy and strong and so are their feet. They feed on animal matter, as well as grains, fruit and seeds. Their wings are broad and flap while in flight. They build large nests using sticks.

Weavers

Weavers are generally small or medium sized birds with short hard bills adapted mainly to feed on seeds. Weavers vary widely in color and at times change seasonally in some species. The sexes are generally alike. Their habitats and breeding habits are diverse. Some are colonial while others are solitary. However, all construct distinctive nests.

Sparrows

Sparrows are generally likened with weavers because of exhibiting similar structures, nesting habits and behavior. A distinguishing feature however is their dorsally positioned and reduced primary. They build a domed shape nest with the entrance on the side, and will be commonly found in trees, under eaves of buildings or in thatched roofs. They are mainly seed eaters.

Woodpeckers

Woodpeckers are most notably known for their hard tapping on wood and barks of trees, foraging for insects, which they catch with their sticky tongues. The woodpecker’s beak is hard and chisel shaped. They have stiff and pointed tail feathers which provide support on tree trunks. Their support is also aided by their sharp nails which enable them cling on surfaces. They are mostly found in forested and bushed habitats. They are typically found in pairs and nest in excavated cavities in trees. They mostly feed on ants and termites.

Kingfisher

Kingfishers are small or medium sized birds. They have heavy pointed bills and short legs. Most species are found near water and they catch fish by diving. However, some species are found far from water bodies and they feed on insects.

Owls

Owls are nocturnal raptors with large eyes. Owls are distinctively known for preying silently, which is aided by their effective muffles flight sounds. However, they have distinctive calls, known as hoots and remain highly vocal during full moon periods. Owls are capable of turning their necks round reaching 180 degrees, without turning their entire bodied. The sexes are generally similar but the females are however, larger then the males. They are found in almost land habitats, but mostly in woodland and forest edges.

Cranes

Cranes are large terrestrial birds with long necks and legs. They are found in marshes and grasslands. Both sexes are mostly grey. Some species have ornamental crests. They have short tails. They mostly pair and perform elaborate nuptial dances. However, they at times form large flocks. They maintain string and sustained flight with their heads and necks held below the distinctive hunch-backed appearance. They feed on insects, small animals, seeds and vegetables.

Guinea Fowl

The guinea fowl’s most notable feature is its pale dots on its dark plumage. It has a small, bare head with a bony casque. The sexes are much similar. It is a highly vocal bird with strident rattling calls. It is a ground bird that feeds on vegetables, seeds and insects.

Parrots

Parrots are bright and colorful birds with powerful hooked bills for breaking nuts. They have short legs, with the first and fourth toes directly facing backwards. Most species have short tails, and both sexes are generally alike. Flight is fast and direct with shallow wing beats. They are loud and noisy, producing squawking sounds. They nest in tree cavities.

WRITER’S BIO

Kamau Mbiyu is a Safari and Travel consultant at Explorer Kenya Tours & Travel. Kenya Safari includes; Lodge and camping safari, hotel bookings, luxury tented tours, wildlife and bird watching, family safaris, mountain climbing and bungee jumping. 

Click here http://www.explorerkenya.com for more information on Safari in Kenya.