Respiratory system diseases, malaria, diarrhoea, skin diseases, Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) and HIV are the top six causes of ill health in Kisumu County.
County Director of Health Dr Ojwang Lusi said that sanitation and hygiene are among the risk factors causing morbidity and mortality in the county according to County Health Sector Strategic and Investment Plan (KCHSSIP 2013-2017).
Dr Lusi’s remarks were made on Monday at the first Kisumu County Sanitation Stakeholders forum where he noted that poor water quality and sanitation continues to pose a major threat to human health.
“Indeed the KCHSSIP 2013-2017 number on strategic policy objective is to eliminate communicable conditions. The policy objective is also included in the county integrated development plan (CIDP 2013-2017),”added Dr Lusi.
He further pointed out that nationally, sanitation related illnesses such as diarrhoea are the fifth cause of illness in the country, while globally diarrhoea disease is responsible for the deaths of 1.8 million people every year according to World Health Organization (WHO, 2004).
He stated that an estimated 88 per cent of the disease burden is attributed to unsafe water supply, sanitation and hygiene, with the numbers mostly concentrated on children in developing countries and Kenya is not an exception.