Kenya Situation Report Health Cluster team, ELDORET 18 - 19 February 2008 Overview of activities During the period under review, the team joined the Inter-Agency Rapid Assessment team (IARAT) from Nairobi headed by UNICEF’s Country Representative. The team included representatives from FAO, UNFPA and UNICEF. During the two days IARAT visited several camps in Uasin Gishu, Koibatek, Trans Nzoia West and Trans Nzoia East districts and were joined by WHO and UNICEF teams from Eldoret. During the two days when the UN Inter-Agency Rapid Assessment team was in the North Rift, a team from Nakuru headed by the PMO Rift Valley was in Uasin Gishu District. The team visited several camps in the district and planning to go to Trans Nzoia West and East districts. The teams carried on the following activities: 1. Held meetings with the three District Commissioners and departmental Heads of Uasin Gishu, Trans Nzoia West and Trans Nzoia East districts on 18.02.08 in Eldoret and Kitale respectively. 2. Visited ASK showground camp in Kitale, Endebes camp (Trans Nzoia East) and Noigam Camp – Cheranganyi (Trans Nzoia East) on 18.02.08 3. Visited Burnt Forest (Uasin Gishu district), Timboroa (Koibatek district) and Eldoret ASK Showground (Uasin Gishu) camps on 18.02.08 Security • The security situation in Eldoret town and its surroundings remained calm. SUMMARY OF EVENTS Meetings with District Commissioners and Departmental Heads Uasin Gishu DC The DC briefed the team: Security in the district has greatly improved and movement is easier now. The IDPs are being assisted but they are concerned about the future. Concerns are being raised in the district since the planting season is to commence mid - March, and majority of the farmers are not in their farms due to the crisis. Some people in the camps, for instance Burnt Forest, feel that adequate food is not reaching them, although the DC reports that this is not the case and adequate food is reaching the IDPs in the district. He is very concerned about the sanitary, water and education needs of the large population at the Eldoret ASK Showground. He requested the team visit this camp since it was the largest in the country. There a feeling among the local host community that only the IDP camp population is being taken care of while the others not in camps are not given the necessary attention. Trans Nzoia East and West Districts DCs The team proceeded to Kitale where a meeting between the team and the two DCs of Trans Nzoia East and West took place. • The DCs gave brief historical events of Trans Nzoia. • The Trans Nzoia district produces over 6 million bags of maize annually which accounts of nearly a quarter of the national food requirement in the country. Now, all the foodstuffs were either burnt or vandalized and hence many people shall be affected by limited food shortage • Both DCs appreciated the assistance provided by UN agencies in all sectors and requested for their continued support. Rapid Assessment of Health Situation and Needs in Kenya 2 Trans Nzoia East DC: o That the newly created district has a total of 25 381 IDPs. o Two divisions mostly affected were Cherang’anyi and Endebes. o The clashes were mainly due to land issues according to the DC but were further aggravated by the post election crisis. Areas mainly affected were those of agricultural settlement schemes. o Main IDP camps in the newly created district were Noigam, Makutano, Endebes and Kesogon. o He said some of the IDPs had their homes burnt down while others were still intact and the owners would like to go back as soon as security situation improves. o Schools were also burnt and hence two schools, Noigam (Kachibora) in Cherang’anyi, had the largest IDPs totalling over 13 200. o Challenges facing the district include: lack of appropriate shelter, continued clashes, lack of space in the camps for schools and sanitary facilities, and uncertainty among the IDPs who are longing to go back to their farms and prepare for planting. Trans Nzoia West DC o The district has 18 280 IDPs with the largest being the Pefa Church o Most of the affected were from farms like Gituamba and Kalahar o Security has greatly improved in the area. o Plans are underway to reduce the number of camps to five for better management and provision of basic services, instead of having several small camps. o Several Government departments were affected by the crisis, particularly the agriculture and education sectors (see below). The capacity of certain health facilities were stretched to the maximum. According to both DCs, the sector seriously affected was the education sector and that currently: o There are eight primary and two secondary schools not operational according to the District education officer for the two districts o Many of the schools in Kitale and adjacent towns were over crowded and hence making learning from very difficult. For instance I Kiminini division alone, 2 300 pupils have been distributed to other schools. o In one school in Endebes division which had 665 pupils received the children from another school with a total school population of 839 pupils. Now this school holds a total of 1504 pupils which have to use the same facilities meant for only 665 pupils. o No learning facilities such as desks and pupils were assisted with mats by the Catholic Diocese in the area. o Other learning materials like exercise and text books are also hard to come by. Health sector: o Providing proper sanitation is still a challenge in several camps where even the space to put up a pit latrine is difficult o Disease surveillance has been enhanced and weekly IDSR reporting has been maintained. o Basic Primary Health Care services being provided through static health facilities or mobile clinics o Water control quality assurance is being done but is handicapped by the lack of equipment. Hence, there is a reliance on the district hospital laboratory. o Nutritional status of the vulnerable groups was assessed and some still going on in order to monitor the situation closely. Visit to Uasin Gishu, Trans Nzoia East and West Districts’ IDP camps On 18.02.08, the team visited three camps in Trans Nzoia West and East districts. These were: Ask Showground in Trans Nzoia West: The camp has a population of 1700 of which 518 are under-fives. Agencies working here include KRCS, IMC, MOH and MSF B among others. Major challenges include o Limited number of toilets, Rapid Assessment of Health Situation and Needs in Kenya 3 o Lack of static health facilities in the camp o Erratic water supply. o Poor refuse collection o Lack of adequate shelter for some of the families o Inadequate supply of foodstuff particularly for the vulnerable groups o Schools for the children are a problem but the children are being absorbed into the nearby schools. Endebes IDP Camp in Trans Nzoia East. This camp has a total population of 6630 IDPs. Currently the agencies involved include KRCS, IMC, MOH and MSF B. Challenges facing this camp are similar to the other camp but one major issue the raised was that they feel that they have no hope of going back to their farms as this has happened to them in past election years. We found here one class in a school holding 192 pupils. Both the health and the learning possibilities of the children is at risk. The team also visited Noigam camp where 13 251 IDPs are camped. They also visited Timboroa, Burnt Forest and Eldoret ASK Showground camps. The situations of these camps are not dissimilar to the above except in Timboroa where houses were torched just two days before the teams visit to the camp. For further information http://www.afro.who.int/ http://www.who.int/hac/ .