Nakuru County Public Health Officer Samuel King’ori has confirmed new cases of cholera from Rongai Sub County.
He said that 16 people lost their lives out of the received 236 cholera related cases in the county at a time when most food vendors in Nakuru town were anticipating that a ban that had initially been put in place to curb the spread of cholera would be lifted.
“This issue of cholera is about poor sanitation and we cannot allow the vendors to go on with their activities without meeting the requirements of the law,” said King’ori.
He added, “Each and every individual should take care of what they consume and ensure that they wash their hands after visiting latrines, avoid eating from dirty places and maintain proper food cleaning and cooking.”
King’ori urged the public to be vigilant in fight against the killer disease by upholding proper personal hygiene.
He cautioned all food vendors against re-opening their businesses until they meet the set standards.
He emphasised that Nakuru County has proper water services and those who claim that it is the heavy rains that have led to the spread of cholera are incorrect.
“We are the people who start cholera and we are the only ones that can stop it,” he said.
He advised people to change their way of life such as taking food from well established restaurants and using safe water.
Recently the Director of Medical Services in Kenya issued a cholera outbreak alert following an increase in cases of Acute Watery Diarrhoea (AWD) in several counties in the country.
Cholera outbreaks were confirmed in Homa Bay, Migori and Nairobi counties too.