Cholera at bay as villages in Kisumu attain Open Defecation Free certification

Three villages in Kisumu East Sub-County have attained Open Defecation Free (ODF) status after three years of intensified campaign against the attitude of having call of nature in the bush.

Located along the Miwani sugar belt, Achako, Radienya and Ogwedhi villages have faced perennial outbreak of cholera and other diarrhea diseases caused by unsafe disposal of human waste.

The certificate awarded by the Ministry of Public Health now means each of the over 250 households in the area has a functional toilet, water for washing hands after visiting the toilet, wash lines, utensil racks, latrine hole covers and trash pits.

Schools in the area also have functional Health Clubs to implement the hygiene strategies in various schools as in the villages.

The villages also have a comprehensive hygiene sensitization team made of volunteers who will ensure continuity of the hygiene standards set by the certification.

The team of volunteers is part of the larger communication strategy which involves school children used in implementing approaches to attaining healthy living.

With the El nino rainfall scare, area residents are confident that water borne diseases may not cause havoc as in the previous seasons due to exposed human wastes.

Residents of the three villages yesterday celebrated the certification which makes them the second to be certified within the county after Nyando Sub-County which received the certification after achieving similar hygiene standards.

Speaking during the celebration held at Kibos Sugar Research Primary School, Miwani Community Health Committee Chair Henry Gari said attitude change was the biggest challenge in convincing residents to accept latrines.

"This is an area with a lot of sugarcane plantation and bushes and people find it easier to dash into the bushes and relieve themselves. Unfortunately our main sources of water are springs which meander through the hills and the plantations hence we are at a very high risk of contracting diarrhea diseases," said Gari.

Jared Onyango, a community health volunteer in Achako village said interventions from other institutions has enabled them to adapt to the new life which took them over three years to embrace.

"When Living Water International got into the program, they once dropped human waste in a glass of water and told us to drink and everybody rejected it. They then told us that it is the same content we have been consuming by failing to use latrines and from that time people started realizing the concept," said Onyango.

According to Living Water International Country Director Jacktone Akelo, the intervention has moved into teaching residents to leave their latrines unlocked so as to allow travelers use to avoid open defecation.

"All households may be having latrines, but if they keep them locked like in many cases, people who are passing by may feel pressed and they have to access the latrines," said Akelo.