Boost for sanitation as 4000 toilets are built in Meru County

Over 4000 families in Meru County have, in the past three months, constructed latrines in their homesteads after the Department of Public Health initiated a campaign dubbed Operation Chimba Choo.

The County Director of Public Health, Ephantus Kariuki, revealed this during the World Toilet Day celebration held at Thangatha Location, Tigania East on Thursday.

Kariuki observed that the Meru has made a remarkable move towards being an Open Defecation Free (ODF) county, noting that 86.7% of the residents have constructed latrines up from 63% in the year 2013.

At the celebrations, he said that the County government is expected to save the over sh. 800 Million that was being spent in treatment of diseases attributed to unhygienic conditions.

During the campaign, that was also being spearheaded by volunteer groups, over a hundred people were arrested and prosecuted for lack of proper toilets in their homes and other residential premises as stipulated by law.

Last week, 10 people were hospitalised in a cholera outbreak in Migori County.

Karungu Deputy County Commissioner James Mabeya attributed the perpetual cholera outbreak in the Migori to poor sanitation and lack of proper human waste disposal mechanisms in the area.

Sanitation has been an issue of concern across the country, especially following a cholera outbreak that affected 10 counties over the last few months.

According to a Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) report released in June, 72 people succumbed to cholera in the first six months of the year.

Though there has been a drop in the number of reported incidences of the waterborne disease, there are concerns that ongoing El Nino rains may herald a fresh outbreak.