A public health expert is calling upon the government and other stakeholders to establish more health and treatment camps in areas vulnerable to natural and environmental disasters in order to save lives.
Dr. Osnat Keidar, a visiting researcher attached to the African Population and Health Research Centre (APHRC) observed this on Friday, when he addressed journalists in Langalanga estate after assessing the prevailing situation on families and health care being offered to Cholera victims in affected areas in Nakuru town.
Dr. Keidar noted that marginalized communities in the country were vulnerable to diseases because of high poverty levels that cannot allow them to access better living standards, hence need support from the government and other stakeholders to save their lives.
“It is prudent that the government puts in a lot of efforts to seek for more support in ensuring that people who live in informal areas access health services adequately. This is because these people are vulnerable to environmentally induced diseases among other disasters because the high levels of poverty among them cannot allow them to access good living standards and medical services,’’ said the researcher.
At the same time, she noted that the existing data on population and socio – economic standards in the country was not adequate in providing information to the government policy makers and other stakeholders in initiating healthcare services in marginalized areas in the country, and called for more research to provide adequate and updated information on informal populations in the country.