Groups call for intervention as strange disease ravages villagers

Villagers in the remote village of Kilifi are alarmed by a rise in deformed children. [Nehemiah Okwembah, Standard]

The condition, he added, has left his family poor and with no hope since he cannot leave her unattended to go to work.

"There are people who come and take pictures of people living with disabilities in the village with the promise that we will get help but we have never received any help. Just a year ago some doctors came here and promised to unravel the cause of the disability trait in our village but they have never come back," he said.

Sumateni Charo, chairlady of the Magarini Disabilities Development Project, a local Community Based Organisation (CBO) that caters to the welfare of people living with disability said the community has remained poor and stagnant due to the illness.

"We have more than 1,000 victims but those under my care are 265 in the CBO, the situation is heartbreaking and the government should bring us the results after doctors come here to collect samples," she said.

Ms Charo now wants a special school built for those affected in the area, and for the victims to get a stipend from the government.

"I recommend that the next Day of Disability be held in this village so that we can also be known. I don't know what is happening in this village because almost all homesteads have babies born with deformities. Some have four, some five, but we don't know the cause," she said.

Mombasa lawyer Carolyne Chilango has challenged the government to move with speed and provide the report of their findings on the disability so that residents can come up with suitable remedies.

"Last year when we visited, we saw the agony faced by families and we pushed the Ministry of Health to carry out research, but it is now more than one year. We request a speedy investigation on the matter so that the villagers can get a solution," she said.