Winstone Chiseremi @Wchiseremi

Elgeyo Marakwet county’s Health department has rolled out a one-month-long indoor spraying programme that targets more than 300,000 households following a suspected outbreak of malaria in the region.

This comes in the wake of the death of four people, among them a Form One student and an eight-year-old child who succumbed to the disease last week.

County Health Executive Kiprono Chepko said the programme will also cover public primary and secondary schools along the highlands and lower parts of the Kerio Valley, where malaria outbreak is prevalent.

He said the county came up with the programme after hundreds of people who visited public health facilities tested positive for the disease.

Chepkok said the most affected areas which have been given priority are Chepsigot, Endo, Mogil, Cheptebo, Tot, Arror, Endo, Kaberon and Biretwo along Kerio Valley.

He said it will take some time before the situation, which he described as dire in the county, is put under control owing to various challenges including poor road network and lack of enough drugs. 

“We have not been able to access anti-malaria drugs because of the delay by Kenya Medical Supplies Agency to dispatch the consignment to counties hit by the outbreak on time,” said the Executive.

Chepkok said they have dispatched another team of health staff to distribute mosquito nets to expectant mothers, the elderly and children, who he said are the most vulnerable to malaria infection. 

He asked residents from the areas that have been mapped as malaria zone” to cooperate with public health staff as it emerged that cases of the disease were rising due to heavy rains.