Mombasa County Executive Health Hazel Koitaba at a press briefing. [photo/nation.co.ke]
Health officials in Mombasa say they have contained cholera which last week left a mother and her child died in Makande area.
However, the hygiene situation in the country, residents say, remains wanting.
A statement by County Health Executive Hazel Koitaba spelled out a raft of measures put in place to address the epidemic.
“We wish to confirm that the situation is now contained. The Department of Health and Public Sanitation is committed to oversee and ensure that any cases are put under control and that the county government effectively responds,” he said.
As part of the preventative strategy, Koitaba announced a ban on hawking food and bottled water in town and estates.
“We have, with immediate effect, banned all food outsourced from hotels, suppliers and business entities whose premises and businesses are unlicensed,” Koitaba said adding that a multi-sectoral task force to oversee the implementation of the directives had been appointed.
But residents have questioned the county government’s commitment to keeping recurrent disease outbreaks in Mombasa at bay arguing that open sewers and heaps of garbage that litter the town are a constant worry to their wellbeing.
“The news of cholera outbreak in Mombasa was really not a shocker to me because with a situation where garbage and sewers are all over, an outbreak of diseases are expected. Open sewers and uncollected garbage are exposing us to disease outbreaks,” said Abdullahi Kassim, a trader at Kongowea market.
The state of hygiene in the county remains wanting under Governor Hassan Joho’s administration, whose stalled solid waste management strategy appears to pose a challenge for a long time.
Despite the directive to ban food hawking, it revealed that several eateries in Kongowea, Bombolulu, Kisauni, and Mishomoroni were still operating as usual with traders saying despite the prevailing circumstances, they need to fend for their families.