Nomadic life in Mandera makes war on measles hard to win

Tuesday October 30, 2018

The nomadic nature of communities in Mandera county is hampering immunisation coverage exposing children below the age of five to measles, polio and pneumonia.

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The county acting director of health services Mohamed Adawa said the fact that locals in Mandera are always on the move with their livestock has made the effort difficult.

"We are now launching this campaign to completely wipe out the disease in our county especially in children of between six months and five years, " Mohamed said in Mandera town yesterday when he launched the first measles campaign. The campaign aims at reaching over 195,000 children in the county.

The low immunization coverage in the county has resulted in the high spread of the disease. In addition, the region is grappling with a spillover from neighbouring Ethiopia and Somalia both of which have poor health infrastructure.

“Our officers are forced to follow them to the interior grazing fields. Low response from the national government and insecurity are also to blame for poor immunization coverage,” said Mohamed.

The disease was first detected in areas bordering Somalia and Ethiopia before spreading into the interior.

Since June, the disease has hit Mandera West with 182 cases recorded mostly in the remote areas, with area medical teams carrying out intervention measures to reduce further spread of the killer disease.

He revealed the region is still battling the epidemic in parts of Banisa and Mandera West subcounties.

“We have managed the situation in Mandera East, North, South and Lafey subcounties through emergency immunization, but the national government and our development partners have chipped in to support the fight in the remaining areas,” Mohamed said.

He said that through the Rapid Result Initiative, the county aims at containing the epidemic completely within the next two months.

The Kenya Red Cross Society, World Heath Organization (WHO), United Nations International Children's Emmergency Fund (UNICEF),and the Ministry of Health have partnered with the county government in the five day measles vaccination campaign in the seven subcounties of Mandera East, Mandera West, Mandera North, Lafey, Kutulo, Banisa and Mandera South.

Symptoms of measles can include watery eyes, sneezing, a dry hacking cough, runny nose, conjunctivitis or swollen eyelids and inflamed eyes and photophobia or sensitivity to light. There is an often fever that can range from mild to severe.
The Economic Survey 2018 shows the national immunisation coverage last year dropped by six percentage points from 69 per cent in 2016 and 76 per cent in 2013 due to the prolonged nurses' strike.

Tana River, Wajir, Mandera, Isiolo, Samburu, Narok, Trans Nzoia and West Pokot are the counties where more than half of one year-olds were not immunised.

Of the eight counties, it is only Mandera that recorded a marginal increase of 0.2 per cent from the 25.2 recorded in 2016.

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