Turkana County has made significant strides by reducing trachoma prevalence from 42.3% in 2010 to the current 9.9%.
Trachoma is a preventable eye disease that can cause blindness if left untreated.
Stakeholders have credited facial cleanliness and environmental improvement for bearing fruits in this endeavor.
The County public health officers and various partners under the auspices of the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) programme, held a meeting to discuss the way forward to enhance hygiene in order to decrease the trachoma prevalence rate even further.
The stakeholder’s meeting, supported by The Fred Hollows Foundation was geared towards rallying WASH partners to support hygiene promotion activities in order to prevent and control trachoma.
The current prevalence, with support from various partners such as Fred Hollows, was realized through the implementation of the World Health Organisation’s recommended SAFE strategy referred to as Surgical, Antibiotics, Facial cleanliness and Environment improvement.
Key partners who attended the meeting included UNICEF Kenya, Diocese of Lodwar, Sapcone, Water Resources Authority and JICA Kenya.
By Peter Gitonga
