Reject 099

Celebrating World Population Day July 1- 31, 2014

ISSUE 099

A monthly newspaper by the Media Diversity Centre, a project of African Woman and Child Feature Service

Start consuming insects

Scientists offer solution to hungry populations

By DUNCAN MBOYAH As the World Population Day is marked on July 11, many challenges continue to bedevil continents.

According to the World Population Review, Africa is the secondlargest and second most populous continent on earth with an estimated population in 2013 of 1.033 billion people.

Based on the projected population by the year 2050 and the previous population, the World Population Statistics notes that the population of Africa is expected to have reached 1.069 billion people in 2014. As a result, it still remains the second most populous continent in the world but makes up only around 15 percent of the entire world.

Africa is home to 54 recognised sovereign states and countries, nine territories and two de facto independent states with very little

recognition. The country with the largest population in Africa is Nigeria, which was estimated to be just over 170 million in 2012. The country with the smallest population in Africa is Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, which is a territory under the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom. Lastly, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has the largest total land area of African countries, totalling around 2,345,410 square kilometres.

Africa

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) stated in 2009 that the population of Africa had hit the one billion mark and had, therefore, doubled in size over the course of 27 years.

Many consider Africa’s population growth a bit frightening, with predictions placing the continent’s population at 1.9 billion by 2050. By 2100, three quarters of the world’s

growth is expected to come from Africa, reaching 4.1 billion people by 2100 to claim over one third of the world’s population. Most countries will at least triple in population as the region has very high fertility rates and very little family planning in most regions.

The current world population in 2014 is 7,211,239,210. The population count is estimated based on the total number of births this year, the total number of deaths this year, and the ending population of 2013, which was 7,203,304,915.

As much of Africa is still developing, and it contains some of the poorest countries on earth, time will tell how it will sustain such massive population growth. This challenge is already being experienced as the continent suffers from food insecurity.

Food insecurity remains the biggest challenge facing most African countries amid a chain of diseases

that include malaria, tuberculosis, HIV and Aids.

The continent suffers food insecurity because it has remained heavily dependent on rain fed agriculContinued on page 6

Kenyans in their various activities.

As the World Population Day is celebrated,developing countries are faced with rapid population increase which poses a risk on food and human security. Pictures: Reject Correspondent

Read more Reject stories online at w w w. m d c a f r i c a . o r g

Celebrating World Population Day

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Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Post-2015 must address sustainable goals

ISSUE 099, July 1-31, 2014

Child labour in Gusiiland cause of concern

By Ben Oroko

Rampant cases of child labour continue impacting negatively on the performance of children in their education.

Independent surveys by the Reject in Kisii and Nyamira Counties reveal worrying trends of child labour, which are unreported to the law enforcement officers to the detriment of the victims Mary Monyangi, a parent and retired primary school teacher from Gucha Sub-County, laments that with the Gusii community’s traditional divisions of labour, a girl-child continues shouldering a heavy burden of domestic labour activities at the expense of their education.

Assign

Monyangi regrets that schoolgirls are assigned heavy household duties that deny them a chance to attend to their class assignments as their male schoolmates concentrate on their studies.

“It is worrying that girls continue suffering the brunt of child labour while at home as the boys continue concentrating on their studies, making it difficult for the girls to compete favourably,” says Monyangi Her sentiments are shared by Kisii County Director of Education, Richard Chepkawai who has also decried increasing cases of child labour affecting the performance of many candidates in the region sitting for their national examinations.

The director regrets that many students from the County were dropping out of school to offer cheap labour at home, in the farms and/or in the commercial sector at the expense of their education.

Speaking to The Reject in his office, the director challenged state and non-state actors to lead the war against child labour and ensure all children enjoy their right to education as the country races to meet the 2015 millennium development goals.

“Members of the public should volunteer information to the law enforcement officers and the education officials to ensure all those engaging children under 18 years in child labour activities to face the law,” says Chepkawai.

By HENRY KAHARA As the world sets agenda for the next development frameworks, many people and organisations are coming up with suggestions to have news goals included in the post-2015 development agenda.

Currently, the international Conference on Population and Development marked its 20th anniversary since the Cairo conference in 1994. The Beijing Conference of 1995 will also be marking its 20th anniversary next year.

However, the Rio Summit marked its 20th anniversary in 2012 and has already set stage for the sustainable development goals that mark the post-2015 development agenda that will put the world on one framework.

Already civil society organisations around the world are calling for malnutrition to be included in the list of the post-2015 development agenda.

Pressure

The societies under the umbrella, Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN); a global movement founded on the principle that all people have a right to food and good nutrition would like to see the realization of other goals since many of them are poverty related.

SUN unites people from the governments, civil society, the

United Nations, donors, development partners, private sector and researchers in a collective effort to improve nutrition.

The pressure comes after a survey by the World Health Organisation indicated that malnutrition is the underlying cause of nearly half of all children deaths.

The data shows that 45 per cent of deaths in children under five — 3.1 million children each year are caused by malnutrition.

According to Linet Njoroge, a nutritionist, addressing malnutrition will save lives, reduce inequalities and build strong and resilient individuals, families, communities and populations.

In Kenya malnutrition is remains one of the biggest threats to Vision 2030 and Kenya’s achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

Njoroge notes that over two million children under five years are suffering from stunted growth due to chronic malnutrition.

“These children will never reach their full mental and physical potential if they survive,” notes Njoroge.

Cause

Reiterating Njoroge’s sentiments, Mannan Mumma, Nutritionist Manager at Kenya Aids NGO Consortium notes that malnutrition in Kenya is mostly caused by inadequate household

A mother breast feeds her baby shortly after delivery.

Experts advise mothers to practice breast feeding so as to avoid malnutrition. Picture: Courtesy food security and choice, poor child care practices, inadequate investment in food and nutrition at government and household level as well as inadequate coordination of efforts towards defined nutrition agenda.

“In Kenya nutrition status of children under five years is poor with 52.3 per cent having macronutrient malnutrition,” observes Mumma.

Salvage

She says the situation can only be salvaged by mothers accepting to exclusively breastfeed new born babies for six months.

“Of the 1, 182,600 children born in Kenya, annually only 32 per cent (378,432) exclusively breastfeed, the other 804,168 infants are mix fed as early as two days after birth posing a high risk of morbidity and mortality,” explains Mumma.

Malnutrition can lead to poor brain development, learning ability and school performance as well as poor child growth and pregnancy complications outcomes.

It can also lead to increased risk of tuberculosis. It is also said to cause poor productivity levels and income potential leading to

reduced economic growth.

According to Mumma, having a stable nation will require dedicated action to improve nutrition in the 1,000 day window from pregnancy to age two.

Experts say that increasing rates of exclusive breastfeeding is critically important to reducing preventable child deaths and ensuring long term, health and well-being.

Though the world has halved the proportion of people who live in extreme poverty and has made substantial progress on other goals, ending hunger and malnutrition is unfinished agenda. Malnutrition remains both the result of poverty and cause of poverty.

Stunt

Globally, 162 million children under five years of age are stunted.

In addition, 52 million children suffer from wasting.

According to World Health Organization (WHO) globally 42 per cent of pregnant women suffer from anaemia, which is a risk factor for maternal deaths.

Global rates of low birth weight, sub-optimal breastfeeding, and maternal anaemia have remained relatively stagnant.

Aggravate

According to the director, the problem is aggravated by the booming boda-boda industry which had attracted many schoolboys who were dropping out and taking refuge in the riding of the motorcycles at a fee.

He reminded them and their employers that it was against the traffic rules and laws which ban under age children from engaging in driving without necessary documents.

Chepkawai also warned boda-boda operators against engaging young boys in riding their motorcycles, saying, it not only endangered their lives, but also exposed them to money which tempts them to drop out of school to make quick money at the expense of their education and careers.

Indeed, child labor has existed in Kenya for many years, but is getting worse lately because of the rising cases of poverty and changing family structures and values.

Many children are today being subjected to child labour activities in the tourism, commercial agriculture, fishing, stone and salt mining to supplement their families’ incomes.

Exploit

There are no official figures on the number of children involved in child labour activities in Kisii and Nyamira Counties, it is estimated that thousands area affected aged between 5-17 years in the County and are out of school. Some are in the formal while others are in the informal sector.

It is against this background, it is believed that the incidences of child labour, child exploitation and child abuse are increasingly affecting children across the county, putting their education and life careers at risk.

ISSUE 099, July 1-31, 2014

Celebrating World Population Day

3

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Population-focused approaches could help deal with HIV

By DUNCAN MBOYAH On October 30, 2006 President Mwai Kibaki launched the Vision 2030 development process when he instructed the National Vision Steering Committee to produce a mediumterm plan with full details on the development programmes that would be implemented in the first five years after the economic recovery strategy.

A consultative approach was undertaken through workshops with stakeholders from all levels of the public service, the private sector, civil society, the media and non-governmental organisations while in rural areas, provincial consultative forums were also held throughout the country.

The Vision 2030, which is Kenya’s development blue print, has three pillars economic, social and political. The social pillar’s objective is investing in the people of Kenya in order to improve the quality of life for all Kenyans by targeting a cross-section of human and social welfare projects and programmes, specifically: education and training; health; environment; housing and urbanization; gender, children and social development ; as well as youth and sports.

Strength

The Vision 2030 pulls its strength from the Millennium Development Goals which also look at the issues indicated. Goal number six which seeks to combat HIV and AIDS as well as malaria and other diseases. Its target was to have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV and AIDS. It is noted that new HIV infections continue to decline in most regions. However, more people than ever are living with HIV due to fewer AIDS-related deaths and the continued large number of new infections with 2.5 million people are newly infected each year. It is also noted that comprehensive knowledge of HIV transmission remains low among young people, along with condom use.

However, the country’s development blue print is unlikely to be achieved due to the threat posed by HIV Aids.

According to the Kenya Demographic Health Survey 2008-2009, the future course of Kenya’s AIDS epidemic depends on a number of variables including levels of HIV and AIDS-related knowledge among the general population; social stigmatization; risk behaviour modification; access to quality health care services for sexually transmitted infections (STI); provision and uptake of HIV counselling and testing; and access to care and antiretroviral therapy (ART), including prevention and treatment of opportunistic infections.

Nationally, HIV prevalence is 5.6 per cent but this varies regionally with the highest being Nyanza region in western Kenya at 15.3 per cent.

Detection

The challenge remains the new infections that are being detected among young people. According to Kenya Demographic Health Survey 2008-2009 results, knowledge of all the key HIV prevention methods is lower among women and men age 15-19 than among people age 20 years and older. Likewise, knowledge of how people can reduce the risk of getting HIV is lower among those who have never had sex than among those who are married or living together with a partner, those who are divorced/separated/widowed, or those who never married but have had sex.

The Kenya Demographic Health Survey 2008-2009 notes that although HIV prevalence seems to have stabilised, new HIV infections have been estimated at 166,000 annually.

“It is unacceptable that 30 per cent of all new HIV infections among adults occur in young women aged 15-24 years and already has indeed affected every facet of our lives,” James Macharia, Cabinet Secretary for Health noted during the opening of a forum for County First Ladies in Nairobi.

The forum was organised to orient the County First Ladies on the HIV pandemic and national response to leverage on their political position to champion the HIV agenda at the county level.

Macharia noted: “HIV causes 20 per cent of all women deaths and 15 per cent of child mortality and must be tackled urgently by all including partners.”

Epidemic

He said the epidemic was a drawback to the realisation of development plans that include the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), since 59 per cent of all new infections are from seven counties.

According to the Kenya Aids Indicator Survey 2012, despite the increase in HIV testing, 53 per cent of survey participants found to be infected with HIV did not know of their infection.

The upsurge of new infections and additional 13,000 new born babies every year who are infected with HIV from their mothers is to blame for the diversion of funds meant for

Peace Corp volunteers hold HIV awareness campaign along the shores of Lake Victoria.Stakeholders are calling for a population-focused approach to HIV. Pictures: Carolyne Oyugi and Courtesy other developments.

According to the United Nations Population Fund Kenya country office, HIV related stigma throughout society continues to pose a challenge.

It inhibits many people from seeking HIV testing services and accessing ante-retroviral therapy. The UNFPA notes that stigma has also been noted as a major contributor to poor adherence by many people to ART regimes.

To be able to handle all these challenges, Macharia called for a revolutionary shift from current HIV prevention programming approaches towards new population-focused combination prevention approaches that take into account the geographical disparities in the HIV epidemic.

Challenge

“This will drastically help reduce the number of new infections in our country and particularly in the counties and groups that account for most of the new infections,” Macharia reiterated.

Noting that universal access to drugs is not possible without sustainable financing, Macharia challenged all sectors to promote local financing mechanisms, integrate efficiency and effectiveness in all programmes.

He called for the leverage in community support systems and strengthens community AIDS competency and resilience to help realise sustainability.

“It is imperative that each county develop their response mechanism to help fight the scourge before it does

worse damage,” said Prof Mary Getui, Chairperson National Aids Control Council (NACC).

Getui called on all counties to address gender inequality, sexual violence and anti-HIV stigma that not only increase risk and vulnerability but also create barriers for women and girls to effectively protect themselves from infections.

“Let us promote high impact evidence based cultural and gender sensitive interventions that address the needs of vulnerable and high risk groups and also promote women controlled interventions such as female condom and microbicides,” Getui noted.

According to the UNFPA Representative, Kenya Country Office Siddharth Chatterjee, as Kenya and the world grapples with HIV, it is women who disproportionately bear the brunt but remain the primary caregivers and support system for families and communities.

Advance

He noted: “Women and girls must be at the heart of any future development policies as they play a role in saving lives, advancing economic development, promoting environmental sustainability and advancing well-being, equity and social justice.”

Chattarjee reiterated: “Universal access to sexual and reproductive health services including family planning and maternal health is a human right issue at the core of sustainable development.”

“It is unacceptable that 30 per cent of all new HIV infections among adults occur in young women aged 15-24 and already has affected every facet of our lives.”

— James Macharia, Cabinet Secretary for Health

According to Macharia, there was an urgent need to use the adolescent girl as an entry point to achieve broader health outcomes adding that countries that have been badly hit by the HIV and Aids epidemic have seen maternal mortality figures rise, rather than fall, in recent years.

“There is need to develop sustainability of programmes that are ongoing so that the beneficiaries do not miss out once the current donors pulls out,” said Maxwell Marx, Senior Advisor, Policy and External Relations President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR) at the US Embassy in Nairobi.

New infections

Marx challenged civil society to be ready to meet the needs of the people suffering infected and affected with HIV and Aids by sustaining programmes to prevent new infections.

According to Kenya Aids Indicator Survey (KAIS) 2012, women are more likely to be infected at 8.4 per cent than men whose infection rate stands at 5.4 per cent. The survey notes that young women aged 15-24 years are four times more likely to be HIV positive than men at 4.5 percent. Kenya is ranked fourth in the world on the number of women who are infected with HIV. Among generalized epidemics worldwide, Kenya registers one of the highest disparities in HIV prevalence between males and females; and with a female-to-male prevalence ratio at 1.9 to 1. This is higher than that found in most population-based studies in Africa. In urban populations prevalence among women is three times more than men (approxi­mately 10 per cent compared to 4 percent).

Sexual transmission is, however, blamed for the faster spread of the epidemic in the country where today, over one million people are living with HIV but death rates have gone down due to the availability of antiretroviral drugs.

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Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Celebrating World Population Day

ISSUE 099, July 1-31, 2014

Keeping the promise:

UNFPA escalates support to improve maternal health

By Reject Correspondent More lives of women giving birth will be saved when the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) increases its support towards maternal health.

According to the UNFPA Representative Siddharth Chatterjee, the UN agency and other partner organisations are working at exploring innovations that can help save the lives of pregnant women in hard to reach and remote areas who are the most vulnerable.

Chatterjee said this when he paid a courtesy call to the First Lady Margaret Kenyatta, at State House Nairobi. “UNFPA plans to support the Government of Kenya through the Ministry of Health and County leadership to scale up initiatives in ten of the counties that have recorded the highest maternal mortality rates in the country,” said Chatterjee.

The noted counties have registered maternal deaths ranging between 55-60 per cent.

Commitment

UNFPA Kenya also committed to support the Ministry of Health in convening a meeting of governors, their spouses and health executives from the 10 counties. The meeting will also include key partners who will discuss measures needed to accelerate progress on maternal health.

Chatterjee congratulated the Kenya Government for adopting the free maternity services policy and for allocating KSh4 billion towards maternal health in the 2013-2014 budget.

“This will go a long way in im-

and raise awareness on the need to reducing maternal and child deaths in Kenya.

Led by the UN Resident Coordinator in Kenya, Nardos Bekele-Thomas, the UN Country team in Kenya are coming together to deliver as one and advocating the need to drastically reduce maternal deaths in Kenya and improving Kenya’s performance on the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) Five. This goal’s objective is to reduce by three-quarters the country’s maternal morality ratio and to achieve univer- UNFPA Representative Mr Siddharth Chatterjee, presents the UNFPA Kenya sal access to reproductive annual report to First Lady Margaret Kenyatta to help in the Beyond Zero health by 2015. campaign. Picture: Courtesy Chatterjee also appealed lomas (such as warts) or cancers of lishing a well-grounded foundation to the First Lady to integrate HPV and adolescent health in the cervix, vulva, vagina, penis, oro- for her family.” pharynx and anus. More than 30 to the Beyond Zero campaign.

Chatterjee also congratulated the Human papillomavirus (HPV) is 40 types of HPV are typically trans- Government for successfully pilota DNA virus from the papillomavirus mitted through sexual contact and ing the HPV vaccine in Kitui and family that is capable of infecting hu- infect the anogenital region. Some the commitment to roll out the same mans. Most HPV infections are sub- sexually transmitted HPV types may nationally. clinical and will cause no physical cause genital warts. HPV infection is Chatterjee conveyed UNFPA Exsymptoms; however, in some people a cause of nearly all cases of cervical ecutive Director Dr Babatunde Ososub-clinical infections will become cancer. timehin’s warm greetings to the First clinical and may cause benign papilLady and UNFPA’s steadfast commitment to support the Government “UNFPA Kenya has placed the of Kenya. adolescent girl in the centre of our “My marching orders from Dr initiatives as this will reduce her Osotimehin when I was appointed vulnerability to early, unwanted as his Representative was to ensure pregnancies as well as poor access to UNFPA Kenya does everything poshealth facilities and education,” said sible to advance sexual and reproChatterjee. ductive health and the rights of all He noted: “we also aim to protect Kenyans,” explained Chatterjee. the adolescent girl from harmful culThe First Lady and Chatterjee tural practices that prevent her from strongly agreed that, “No woman — UNFPA Representative Siddharth Chatterjee realising her full potential and estab- should die giving life”.

proving quality of care in government facilities,” he said.

Mrs Kenyatta expressed her appreciation on the efforts UNFPA has committed towards advancing maternal health. She welcomed UNFPA’s support to reduce maternal mortality in Kenya.

Statistics indicate that over 5,500 women in Kenya die annually due to pregnancy and birth related complications. In 2012 alone, over 100,000 children below age five died before their first birthday. In the same year, there were over 13,000 new HIV infections among children, of whom 62 per cent did not access life-saving medication.

The First Lady launched the Beyond Zero Campaign to effectively deliver on her pledge made during the summit held in Addis Ababa by the Organisation of First Ladies against HIV and AIDS in Africa where she committed to champion a campaign to eliminate new HIV infections among children and to keep their mothers alive.

To highlight the poor state of maternal health in Kenya the First Lady ran a half and full marathon (in Nairobi and London respectively) to advance the Beyond Zero campaign

Vulnerability

“UNFPA plans to support the Government of Kenya through the Ministry of Health and County leadership to scale up initiatives in ten of the counties that have recorded the highest maternal mortality rates in the country.”

Opportunities abound for improved maternal health care

By Reject Correspondent Globally, the maternal mortality ratio has declined by 47 percent over the past two decades, from 400 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 1990 to 210 in 2010. However, in Kenya, maternal mortality rate remains at disconcertingly high level of 488 deaths per 100,000 live births. This rate has almost remained the same since 1990 (Kenya National Bureau of Statistics and ICF Macro, 2010).

There are wide regional disparities in maternal mortality within the country, with maternal deaths representing about 15 per cent of all deaths to women aged 15-49 of about 6,000 to 8,000 pregnant women dying every year.

The difference in maternal mortality by county is considerable with the county with highest maternal mortality having 20 times that of the lowest. The ten counties with the highest number of maternal deaths contributed 55 per cent of total deaths.

The Kenya health policy target for a 50 per cent reduction in maternal deaths, based on the current maternal mortality ration of 488 per 100,000, gives a target of 185 per 100,000 child births by 2030.

Achieving this target rides on Kenya being

able to devolve health service delivery rapidly and efficiently. A rights-based approach to service delivery focusing on the ten counties with the highest maternal mortality ratio; improvement in access and quality of maternal healthcare; and reducing the social barriers that prevent women from demanding maternal services, would contribute significantly to this reduction.

This target is achievable if there will be improved economic growth and increased political will.

Recommendation

The levels of deliveries assisted by skilled birth attendants (44 per cent), completed recommended antenatal care (47 per cent) and contraceptive prevalence rate (46 per cent) have remained low; while the unmet need for family planning is still high (26 per cent).

Maternal mortality results from complications during and following pregnancy and childbirth, with most of the complications developing during pregnancy. Other complications may exist before pregnancy but are worsened during pregnancy. The major complications that account for 80 per cent of all maternal deaths include: severe bleeding (mostly bleeding after childbirth); infections (usually after childbirth); high blood

pressure during pregnancy; unsafe abortion; and diseases such as malaria as well as HIV and AIDS during pregnancy. Most of these can be prevented if mothers are encouraged to attend antenatal care, deliver in hospital and

improve uptake of family planning to reduce unintended pregnancies.

The policy on health fees stems from the campaign platform of the Jubilee Coalition, whose manifesto pledged to abolish user charges at public health centres and dispensaries and provide free maternal deliveries to promote greater health equity in the form of access to care.

This initiative is already showing some positive results with skilled personnel having increased to 66 per cent from 44 per cent a year ago based on District Health Information System (DHIS) data.

The Ministry of Health has also reported an eight per cent reduction in maternal deaths over the same period. For the programme to realise further success it is recommended that all public health facilities have the basic delivery room infrastructure and equipment, including sufficient number of beds and significant increase in skilled human resources.

More attention needs to be given to the ten counties accounting for the highest number of maternal deaths. Strengthening the health system and improving quality of healthcare delivery is pivotal to reversing the trend of high maternal mortality.

ISSUE 099, July 1-31, 2014

Celebrating World Population Day

5

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Birth rate in Kitui County raises concern

By Malachi Motano The National Council for Population and Development (NCPD) is encouraging residents of Kitui just like other parts of Kenya to embrace family planning and the use of contraceptives to manage their population that is growing at a worrying rate.

Vane Mulumba, deputy director NCPD said ; “We need to manage our population to attain the desired economic growth and the answer lies in the use of contraceptives. Kenyans whose faiths are against artificial family planning and contraceptives must then use natural methods.”

Kitui Deputy Governor Pennina Malonza insists that it is failure to use the contracep-

tive that leads to the many unplanned pregnancies and worst still, a high number of abortions in her county and the rest of the country. She expressed her worry over the birth rate in Kituyi County which now surpasses the national tally.

While the national birth rate tally for a single woman is 4.6 children, the tally of Kitui stands at 5.1 children per woman. The rapid growth in population puts a big strain on the available resources.

Economy

According to NCPD, Kenyans must embrace family planning to avoid both the population explosion and economic stagnation. “A well-

managed and controlled population, would save the country a wopping Sh20 billion to grow the economy while the rapid population growth rate would stifle economic growth.”

In 2009 Kenyan population stood at 38 million. It is now projected to shoot to 73 million by 2030. It is therefore imperative to manage the country’s population, as that may put a strain on social services and retard the country’s economy, says Mulumba.

Adding that: “We need to champion our population by playing a central role in controlling it for quality life. The current population growth of one million per year affects development by forcing the Govern-

Participants at the launch of Population Policy for National Development by the National Council for Population and Development. Picture: Malachi Motano ment to increase investments in basic social infrastructure.”

United Nations estimates that one million people are added each year. The deputy director says: “We need to cut this birth rate. Family planning use through community-based approaches is one of the most cost-effective investments to curb the huge reproductive rate in the county.”

Risks

She regrets unplanned pregnancies which lead to high risk births and calls for ambitious campaign among the communities to initiate advocacy

against the threat.

Experts say that, fertility remains high in Kenya, not because women don’t know how to lower their fertility, but because they do not want to. Knowledge of modern contraceptive methods in Kenya is “universal” at 97 percent.

A professor of demography and sociology at Princeton, Charles Westoff, recently stated that “about half the women categorised as having an ‘unmet need’ (in Kenya) have no intention of using contraceptives even if they were made freely available.” The policy papers repeatedly acknowledge that

Kenyan fertility remains high because desired fertility is high.

The Kenyan Population Situation Analysis indicates that demand for children is still high and is unlikely to change unless substantial changes in desired family sizes are achieved among the poor in general.Thus the challenge is how to reduce further the continued high demand for children.

It also indicates that achievement of this policy option (lowering fertility) is complicated by differences between individual fertility preferences and desirable fertility levels in these countries.

Maternity fee waiver sees influx of women in health facilities

By ANTONY ZOKA Access to skilled health care especially for maternal health has remained a huge challenge for many Kenyan women.

However, the introduction of free maternity has seen an increased number of women making their way to health facilities in Kilifi County.

Statistics in the county indicate that approximately 15 mothers deliver every night in the hospital under the watch of one or two nurses, a move that has pilled pressure on the facility, especially regarding the number of properly trained health personnel.

Progress

Many health facilities are still working closely with traditional birth attendants (TBAs) to monitor the progress of pregnant mothers, hence ensuring that the mothers attend ante-natal care.

According to Dr David Mang’ong’o, medical officer in-charge of Rabai and Kaloleni sub-counties, the rise in the

number of mothers seeking ante-natal care has resulted to frequent engagement of traditional birth attendants.

He admits that majority of the population in rural areas have gained trust in the TBAs. “We have been having these traditional birth attendants in various forums to sensitise them on the need to refer their clients to the nearest health facility,” says Mang’ong’o. He adds: “We encourage them to act as birth companions as they are the ones who know who is pregnant within their area.”

Mang’ong’o stresses on the need for traditional birth attendants to avoid conducting delivery as they lack basic requirements for safe delivery.

However, experts warn that children born at home are at a higher risk of getting infections leading to early deaths.

Overwhelming evidence shows that giving birth with the help of a trained health worker in hospital drastically reduces child and maternal deaths despite disparities among counties.

In Kilifi County, the number of

deliveries by skilled personnel rose by over 100 percent from 1,550 in the third quarter last year to 3,300 this year.

Seek

However, the increase in the number of women seeking services at health services has raised concern from the Nurses Association in Kilifi. They have called for more nurses to be employed to meet the ever growing demand.

According to Japheth Mwambui Mwavita, chairperson National Nurses Association of Kenya, Mariakani, Kaloleni sub-County only needs an additional 50 nurses, as the area has only 98 stationed within the various health facilities.

Speaking at Mariakani sub-County Hospital, Mang’ong’o revealed that lack of adequate staff has forced many locals to travel long distances in search of health services.

He noted that Kaloleni sub-County is yet to open five new dispensaries due to lack of adequate qualified personnel.

“While we encourage more of our

people to consider using our modern health facilities, these are limited as we are yet to operationalize the new ones,” Mang’ong’o says.

Similar sentiments were made during this year’s National Nurses Week where it was noted that the county government was on the process of retaining nurses on contract.

Addressing nurses at Mariakani Hospital, Gladys Etemesi, a logistics officer in the nurses’ county office, said there was need to increase the number staff in the county for patients to get quality services.

“The demand is high and we have no option but to increase the number of nurses,” said Etemesi. She added: “We cannot have one nurse assisting more than two women delivering at the same time. This places the nurse under difficulty professionally.”

According to Etemesi, free maternity has brought to light the need employ more nurses in the country.

Statistics in the National Nurses Association in Kilifi indicates that there are 475 nurses working in

public health facilities with 167 others on contract.

According to Etemesi, the move by the county government to absorb those on contract was welcome as it is going to play a key role in reducing the work load for nurses working in public health facilities.

Kilifi County Government gave the green light to retain 84 of nurses on contract while plans are at advanced stage to absorb the rest in phases.

Deficit

According to the World Health Organisation, one nurse should serve only 285 residents, yet in Kenya, only one nurse serves 572. This has created a deficit of over 51,455, and the situation is bound to be worse with the ever growing demand.

The National Nurses’ Union officials in Kilifi County noted that there is a good relationship between the county government and health sector. They reiterated that such a move will lead to improved services in the health sector.

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Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Celebrating World Population Day

ISSUE 099, July 1-31, 2014

Country records drop in maternal deaths

By DUNCAN MBOYAH In the recent past Kenya has shown an increase to the number of women dying from pregnancy and birth related complications. Statistics have often equated the number of women dying every year to 8,000.

However, according to Save the Children’s annual State of the World’s Mothers Report, Kenya has made progress in tackling maternal deaths.

Country Director, Duncan Harvey, says Kenya has moved up by 13 places from 156 in the previous year and is now ranked in position 143 out of 178.

“This is a huge improvement even though more still needs to be done given that 300 babies continue to die daily in Kenya as a result of preventable diseases,” said Harvey during launch of the report in Nairobi.

Improve

The report indicates that one in 55 mothers in Kenya risk maternal death, while the country has 72.9 under five mortality per 1,000 live births. This is seen as an improvement from the previous figures.

More than 80 per cent of high mortality countries are unable to meet the fourth Millennium Development Goal (MDGs) that seeks to reduce child mortality by 75 percent in the period between 2000 and 2015.

The report places Finland as the best country to be a mother, whereas in Africa, Ethiopia has shown the most improvement in tackling maternal deaths.

While some countries like Mauritius and South Africa are

placed relatively high, all but four of the 30 lowest-ranked countries in the Global Mother’s Index are in Africa.

The index, which scores national performance on mothers’ and children’s health, educational, economic and political status, shows that progress is particularly slow in West and Central Africa, which account for almost a third of all child deaths globally.

For women in sub-Saharan Africa and West Africa in particular, giving birth is still too likely to be fatal for both mother and child. Women have a one in 39 chance of dying in pregnancy or childbirth.

The report notes that in her lifetime, one Chadian woman in 15 is likely to die because of a pregnancy, compared to one woman in 1,000 in Mauritian.

It notes that a child in Sierra Leone has one chance in five of not reaching his or her fifth birthday, whereas for a Mauritian child, this risk is one in 66.

Since 2000, the report indicates, Malawi and Tanzania have both reduced child mortality by nearly 60 per cent while Rwanda has reduced by 70 per cent.

Mortality

“The link between conflictaffected and fragile states as well as high rates of maternal and child mortality might seem obvious, but it is not intractable,” says Harvey. He notes that while the number of mothers and children dying of preventable causes remains unacceptably high in some countries “progress in countries such as Ethiopia, show that investments in mothers

number of trained and resourced frontline health workers,” Harvey notes.

Protect

Save the Children holds a road show to sensitive the public on infant mortality. Many children dye before reaching the age of five due to preventable causes. Picture: Courtesy can ensure that lives are saved and improved in spite of crisis”.

Countries with fragile institutions and conflict, often combined with natural disasters, are those where mothers fare the worst. Seven different countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Niger, Mali, and Guinea-Bissau — all still in the bottom 10 — have been placed last on the index since it was launched in 2000. Six of these have a history of conflict and all, except Guinea-Bissau, suffered recurring natural disasters over the same period.

Kenya, a country that has of late been under constant attack from terrorists, has been ranked in this category by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, it is statistically more dangerous to be a woman or a child than it is to be a soldier. The death toll of this decades-long war is equivalent

to the 2006 Asian tsunami happening every six months, and at least 30 times greater than the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

Investing in girls and women will help ensure mothers are better protected during disasters, and that they have more access to the services they need to care for their families.

Invest

According to Jasmine Whitbread, Chief Executive Officer Save the Children International, majority of preventable child deaths are increasingly concentrated in particular parts of the world, much of it in conflictaffected and fragile states like Kenya.

“Governments, donors, international agencies, the private sector and civil society must ensure that mothers and children living in crisis-affected contexts have the best chance to survive and lead healthy lives,” says Whitbread.

She notes that humanitarian partners have to put women and children at the centre of national and international processes to ensure that necessary investments are made in their resilience, health and protection.

Over half of maternal and under-five deaths take place in fragile settings, which are at high risk of conflict and are particularly vulnerable to the effects of natural disasters.

The report called on governments to ensure that every mother and new-born living in crisis has access to high quality health care. The governments have also been called upon to invest in women and girls as well as ensure their protection and build longer term resilience to minimize damaging effects of crises on health.

“Governments should embark on eliminating any financial obstacles to accessing care and supporting an adequate

Governments and major donors have been urged to support health systems, including by investing in and maintaining health infrastructure.

Harvey appeals to parties in conflict to abide by the obligation not to attack health workers or facilities.

The report further suggests that emergency interventions need to be designed with a long term view and specific needs of mothers and new-borns in mind. The report calls for political engagement and adequate financing, coordination and research around maternal and new-born health in crisis settings are in place.

It indicates that in Kenya, only 20.3 per cent of women are elected and are participating in national issues.

The report indicate that the Post-2015 Development Agenda and the 2016 World Humanitarian Summit present opportunities to discuss the unique challenges of crisis-affected states and how to ensure they are addressed in ways that can promote maternal and child survival.

More immediately, the international community has the unprecedented opportunity to tackle new-born mortality and preventable stillbirths by supporting the Every New-born Action Plan and the actions it has set out to meet ambitious targets to reduce new-born mortality and eliminate preventable still births during labour.

Scientists offer solution to starving populations Continued from page 1 ture, leaving it suffering greatly from effects of climate change and global warming. Prolonged droughts, flooding and very high temperatures have affected food production and left the continent’s population reeling to the effects of hunger.

In order to counter this, scientists at the International Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) are calling on food insecure countries to consider consuming insects.

The scientists note that 870 million people who are currently going hungry globally can feed on the 2,000 insects that are consumable by humans adding that insects are healthy, nutritious and an alternative to mainstream staples such as chicken, pork, beef and fish.

Encourage

“Governments need to encourage insect farming as a new way of addressing food security to help replace meat and fish that are consumed and at the same time used as animal feeds,” said Dr Sunday Ekesi, ICIPE’s Principal Scientists and Head of Arthropod Pathology.

According to Ekesi, it was unfortunate that 15 per cent of populations in developing countries are malnourished as they are unable to afford meat and fish yet the nutrition contents of insects are comparable to meat and fish.

“Insects can also be used as animal and aquaculture feed instead of fish products that are being over exploited,” he noted.

Ekesi said that Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) from insects can also be used as alternative agents for fighting human-pathogenic micro-organisms.

“Insects can also be used to enhance functioning of the immune system of different organisms,” Ekesi explained. He added: “They can also be used in treating wounds and filling demand for the production of biofuels and fine chemicals.”

His sentiments were echoed by Dr Segenet Kelemu, Director General of ICIPE who said: “What we eat and how we produce it needs to be re-evaluated by rectifying inefficiencies and food waste reduced as well as finding new ways of growing food.”

Kelemu observed that edible insects have always been a part of human diets but in some societies there is a degree of distaste for their consumption.

Many insects are rich in protein and good fats as well as high in calcium, iron and zinc. They also form a traditional part of many regional and national diets.

Kelemu revealed that although the majority of edible insects are gathered from forest habitats, innovation in mass-rearing systems has begun in many countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

“ICIPE has reared over 100 different arthropods species of insects since 1971 and is in a position to rear more insects for countries that could show interest,” Kelemu noted.

She disclosed that insect harvesting and rearing is a low-tech, low-capital investment option that offers entry even to the poorest sections of society, such as women and the landless.

“ICIPE has the technology that is used in producing insects instead of sending children to look for them in the bush,” she explained.

Kelemu observed that wildfire and overharvesting insects from their natural habitat have contributed to a decline in many edible insect populations.

She further noted that with the increasing climatic changes in the world, the distribution and availability of edible insects will be affected.

Increase

The Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) in its 2013 report notes that the increasing number of the world population can be well served by insects that offer a significant opportunity to merge traditional knowledge and modern science in both developed and developing countries.

To accommodate this number, FAO notes that current food production will need to almost double as land is also becoming scarce and expanding the area devoted to farming is rarely a vi-

able or sustainable option.

It stated that insects promoted as food emit considerably fewer Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) than most livestock. Methane for instance, is produced by only a few insect groups, such as termites and cockroaches.

Oceans are overfished and climate change and related water shortages could have profound implications for food production.

In Africa FAO initiated a review in 2003 to describe the contribution of edible insects to diets in Central Africa.

The studies emphasizes on the Congo Basin because of the significant consumption of wild insects from important forestry resources and wildlife ecosystems that has been going on for several decades.

The World Population Day marked on July 11, every year is a time to reflect on population trends and related issues. It aims to raise awareness of global population issues that include hunger, disease, warfare, welfare and human rights.

The 2014 theme for the World Population Day is “A time to reflect on population trends and related issues”.

Food insecurity remains a key trend affecting populations.

As the world gets ready to mark the end of the Millennium Development Goals in 2015, goal number one was to eradicate extreme poverty and

hunger. Its first target was to halve between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than $1.25 a day. Although the global poverty rate at $1.25 a day fell in 2010 to less than half the 1990 rate, about 700 million fewer people lived in conditions of extreme poverty in 2010 than in 1990. However, at the global level 1.2 billion people are still living in extreme poverty and people who are poor are not able to have three square meals per day. They end up in most cases having only one meal or going hungry for a number of days.

According to United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), reducing poverty starts with children. It notes that more than 30 per cent of children in developing countries — about 600 million — live on less than $1 a day and that every 3.6 seconds one person dies of starvation. Usually it is a child under the age of five.

UNICEF notes that poverty contributes to malnutrition, which in turn is a contributing factor in over half of the under-five deaths in developing countries. Some 300 million children go to bed hungry every day. Of these only eight per cent are victims of famine or other emergency situations.

More than 90 per cent are suffering long-term malnourishment and micronutrient deficiency.

Extra information from Internet sources.

ISSUE 099, July 1-31, 2014

Celebrating World Population Day

7

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Alternative approaches to child discipline sought

By OMONDI GWENGI

For the past six years 20 year old Paul has faced difficult times.

He recalls with pain when his life was turned upside down in Nyangera Village in Siaya County, where he was staying with his elder brother.

Paul had just returned home from school for lunch and found no one waiting for him. There was no food but a KSh20 coin placed on the table.

“I thought the money was left for me to buy lunch so I took it,” explains Paul.

Later in the evening, his sister-in-law asked him who had taken the money: “I told her that I bought my lunch with it, but she locked me in the house and told me to wait for my brother.”

When his brother finally arrived, he tied Paul’s hands and burned them as punishment for having taken the money.

Pressure

Paul was later rushed to his grandmother’s home where he spent the night. It was only the pressure mounted by neighbours that forced his brother to take him to hospital.

Six years since the incident, Paul’s brother walks scot-free, and has not been punished for scaring the young man for life.

Many parents and care-givers like Paul’s brother remain unconvinced of the value of alternative methods of disciplining children after the ban of corporal punishment in Kenyan schools.

Despite the ban, the practice continues to be widespread with many still believing in the value of beatings and other forms of gross punishment in the upbringing of children.

This is deeply embedded in Kenyan society and schools where sometimes teachers are often pressured by parents and care-givers to ensure it is practiced.

Failure to inflict corporal punishment is often interpreted as demonstrating lack of concern for the child and goes with the saying “spare the rod and spoil the child”.

It is against this backdrop that African Network for the Prevention and Protection Against Child Abuse and Neglect (ANPPCAN) has set out to find ways to engage teachers, parents and caregivers in exploring alternative approaches to disciplining children in and away from schools.

According to Mercy Otieno the organisation’s project officer, they plan to involve Early Childhood Development (ECD) teachers and parents in Bondo through training on parenting.

“The chapter has been implementing alternative positive discipline project in the past one year during which 150 head teachers and 150 school management committee chairpersons have been trained,” explains Otieno.

The project, titled Positive Discipline in Day To Day Parenting’ will target Early Childhood

Development teachers and parents within West Yimbo Location, Bondo constituency.

“We want to ensure that our society is free of physical and humiliating abuses against children,” says Otieno.

Sensitise

Speaking during the launch of the project in Bondo, Aloys Opiyo, ANPPCAN’s Project Manager notes that the training will take five weeks.

“The training will be conducted once a week. This means that we are going to have about five sessions,” explains Opiyo urging parents to take full responsibility of taking care of all their children.

ANPPCAN CEO Mr Aloys Opiyo during the project’s launch in Usenge, Siaya County. Picture: Omondi Gwengi ANPPCAN plans to carry out community sensitisation to ensure that children are living in an atmosphere of love, trust and respect for their rights.

According to Allan Onguka, Bondo subCounty Children’s Officer, West Yimbo Location where the project was launched has been leading in cases of physical and humiliating punishment against children.

“We have been receiving numerous cases of child abuse and I am, therefore, calling upon all parents to practice proper parenting instead of looking for shortcuts,” said Onguka.

“We want to ensure that our society is free of physical and humiliating abuses against children.”

Mercy Otieno, Project Officer

He noted that plans are underway to put in place a framework that will help the Children’s Department to respond to emerging cases more urgently and effectively.

Onguka warned those who will be found engaging in humiliating punishments will not be spared by the law.

However, Wilson Odhiambo Oreme, Executive Secretary Siaya County Kenya Union of Post Primary Teachers, differed with the idea saying that rising indiscipline cases in schools can be attributed to the ban of corporal punishment by the Ministry of Education.

“You are all aware of the relationship between teachers and students. Counselling cannot work effectively as an alternative way of disciplining them,” Oreme said.

He advised that all schools be provided with professional counsellors who should be nonteaching staff.

Concerns raised over young people affected with hypertension

By DAVID NJOROGE Non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, cancer and hypertension among others are raising concerns. For this reason, the Government has been asked to amend the existing policy governing management and treatment of hypertension in order to reduce rising rate of deaths related to the condition.

A cross section of doctors interviewed said they fear that hypertension cases were becoming more prevalent among young people aged 25 and above lately and strict measures needed to be considered to curb the spread.

Review

One of the suggestions put forward is for the Government to review and consider amending some clauses in the policy statement.

This will change how people perceive foods that they eat and be able to cater for their health effectively with better knowledge.

According to Dr Custodia Mandihate, Country Representative World Health Organisation, poor diet management, has been identified and

linked to the rise with majority eating foods that are dangerous to their health.

So far, about 37 per cent of Kenyans above 25 years of age are suspected to suffer from hypertension.

This increase in the number of people being diagnosed with the condition has prompted it being listed among the non-communicable diseases in Kenya, contributing to half of top 20 morbidity cases.

Advice

“We need to go beyond blood pressure by advising people on ways to prevent hypertension and lead healthy lives,” says Mandihate.

She notes that prescribing to the right diet is one way of being free from hypertension particularly among the young adults who care less about what they eat.

“The average blood pressure in Africa is now higher than in Europe and USA and the prevalence has increased tremendously among the poorer section of the society,” notes Mandihate.

She says that the problem will require proper and effective public awareness, early detec-

tion and treatment.

Mandihate further notes that lack of regular check-ups for those suffering from the condition often lead to complications related to stroke, kidney failure and sometimes blindness.

Cause

“Half of the deaths emanating from hypertension are caused by heart disease and stroke,” she says.

Owing to the fact that the condition produces no symptoms, early diagnosis can work better if detected at initial stages.

Over 150 million people in Africa are at risk of getting hypertension by 2025 if proper measures are not taken into consideration to curb the condition.

The statistics are grim and show that one out of every three people die globally from the disease.

However, according to Dr Shahnaz Sharif, Director Public Health and Sanitation in the Ministry of Health, although Africa has been lagging behind in the control and management of hypertension, most countries are now adopt-

ing new and improved strategies of containing the condition, Kenya being among them.

“I am of the opinion that most countries are now becoming aware of the loss hypertension is causing and many of them are doing something positive about it,” notes Sharif, adding, “Kenya is in the forefront”.

According to Mandihate, eating a diet that contains less salt, avoiding extreme intake of alcohol, reducing tobacco smoking as well as taking regular exercises reduces levels of stress and are some of the personal initiatives an individual can take to curb hypertension.

Check

Sharif notes that frequent medical checkups are vital in helping one know their status.

He says this will play a big role in promoting health service delivery with a number of individuals suffering affected by the condition.

According to World Health Organisation, Kenya’s hypertension deaths hit 0.90 per cent of the total deaths with the death rate of 21.81 per cent per 100,000 ranking the country number 121 globally in 2011.

8

ISSUE 099, July 1-31, 2014

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Plans to re-introduce traditional courts embraced

Women MCAs influence budget making process

By ROBERT NYAGAH

By Robert Wanjala

Elders in Kilifi County plan to establish community customary courts to deal with witchcraft related cases.

Joseph Karisa Mwarandu, who is a respected Kaya elder and secretary of the Malindi District Cultural Association, says the proposed court would also deal with other culture related conflicts in the region where killings of elderly people linked to the vice have been on the increase.

Uasin Gishu County budget-making process will prioritise funds for special groups like those suffering from HIV/Aids and other physically challenged to empowered and enable them meet their own basic needs.

Josephine Tereito, Chairperson of Public Service committee, says that they have also given priority to the building of more markets to enable women in the County to operate under shades in their quest to improve their economic status.

She says that the County’s budget had also prioritized education for woman to bridge the wider gap between male and female in the region.

“Lack of information has made many women lose on tendering process but we are taking initiatives to ensure that they are educated in order to benefit from tenders,” says Tereito, the Member of County Assembly (MCA) representing Cheptiret ward, She insists that there is deep-rooted stereotype among Kalenjin women. “Women still feel very inferior before men.”

“As a result of culture, some women in the society they feel cannot do what men can do.

They fear and we are working hard to ensure that they know their rights,” she says. “We are demanding for civic education funds for public awareness especially on women issues.”

Although the County has put measures to ensure the one third gender rule in every house committee is effected, but a lot still needs to be done to sensitize more women to fight for their space.

With 14 women MCA (3 elected and 11 nominated) two house committees are headed by women and four deputised by women.

“We have to impart knowledge, mobilize many MCA’s to pass the information to fellow women in the whole county. But the biggest challenge is that women are the worst enemies of themselves,” the Public service Committee chairperson says.

Men in the county have shown great interest in women leadership and that is why we head some of these powerful County house committees, she asserts.

Flora Cheptum, one of the nominated MCAs representing special interest groups, is a happy leader and attributes her fortune to the Constitution because has helped like hers and many physically challenged gain access to the County chambers.

Cheptum says that County budget should consider allocating funds for projects that would improve the lives of those physically challenged.

“We are trying to push our agenda because we face numerous challenges starting from education, access to buildings, hospitals among others. We are pushing the county to create awareness to people with disabilities that disability is not inability” Cheptum says.

Cheptum is a member of Children and Social life and Education, a committee within the County Assembly.

“I have highlighted issues to do with wheelchair and crunches so that we may appear and operate at the same level with other normal people,” says Cheptum.

Cheptum is a Christian song writer and singer who has cut for herself niche in the Kalenjin community for her inspirational songs and tunes.

She also uses her songs to create HIV/Aids awareness in the vast community. In the run up to the 2013 general election Cheptum spearheaded campaigns on the importance of peace in the region following what happened the worst post-election violence after the disputed presidential results in 2007 general election.

Practice

Mwarandu, who doubles as a high court advocate in Malindi, believes that customary courts will not only resolve the present killing of elderly people accused of practicing witchcraft in the Kilifi County.

In the past three months, over 100 elderly people have been killed for allegedly practicing witchcraft in the County.

The lawyer expressed confidence that customary courts would succeed to tame taming practice in witchcraft and the presently rampant killing of elderly people associated with witchcraft in Coast region.

In an interview with the REJECT at the Malindi District Cultural and Resource Centre, Mwarandu said that with the constitution having accepted customary laws as an acceptable means through which to resolve cultural and traditional conflicts at community level, MADCA had decided to take the first step to establish the courts.

The lawyer said that for more than 20 years, he had successful used customary means and consultation of Kaya elders to resolve family and community conflicts after individuals hired him to represent them in court.

“I have continuously gained confidence in the use of our cultural, traditional and customary rules and regulations to resolve conflicts at family and community level, and I feel that customary courts have a place in modern society and should be initiated, promoted and protected as indicated in the Constitution,” said Mwarandu.

Earlier, he had led Kaya elders to ask Chief Justice Dr. Willy Mutunga to allow the initiation of customary courts in Kilifi County and Coast in general where some conflicts related to witchcraft and land lacked good basis for prosecution under the penal code.

The CJ, who had visited Malindi to inaugurate the Court of Appeal, agreed with the elders that the courts were necessary and needed to be started.

Since then, indigenous knowledge experts working with Mwarandu and Kaya elders have started campaigns to identify and recruit elders to be trained and later serve as magistrates and judges under the proposed customary courts.

MADCA indigenous knowledge expert and researcher on cultural issues in the Coast region, John Baya Mitzanze, is the coordinator of the recruitment and says that since the work started at least 40 elders had been identified and found to be qualified to sit in the court after extensive interviews.

Meanwhile, Mitzanze has expressed satisfaction with plans to revive customary courts, which stopped to operating between 50 and 70 years ago.

Long before western based laws and penal code become effective in resolving problems, people who committed crimes in the Mijikenda community setting were charged before elders through customary courts which heard and determined many cases to the satisfaction of the

Top: Female Kaya elders who will be part of judges and arbitrators in the traditional customary courts in Kilifi County. Above: Kaya elders Mitzanze and advocate Joseph Mwaranbdu in a forum to discuss creation of the Courts. Pictures: Robert Nyagah opposing sides, said Mitzanze.

The Kaya elders, the cultural expert said, wanted complicated cases relating to conflicts emanating from the cultures of the Mijikenda people to be resolved by use of customary judges at the initial stages and in case there was dissatisfaction from any side- the same would be forwarded to the courts of law.

Complicate

Selected customary judges, Mitzanze said, would benefit from modern technology and education because in the present situation records and files would be maintained to ensure that by the time the cases were forwarded to the normal courts, the magistrates would benefit from background information related to the cases.

The customary court cases, he said would have two stages with the lower courts under ordinary elders while any cases actually reaching the Kaya Council of Elders, perhaps the highest hierarchy –would be considered to have reached the customary supreme court.

Mitzanze noted that customary courts could be trusted to bring back the dwindling respect towards the elders in Coast and Kenya in general where he claimed their role in resolving various conflicts continued to be ignored.

“Elders were and continue to be important in shaping the peaceful future of any given community and nation at large, if they are recognised

and incorporated in resolving the ever increasing conflicts through organised and properly coordinated customary courts, peace shall be widely restored and maintained in many conflict areas of this country,” the coordinator said.

The researcher said that while working with various experts including Pwani University lecturers, he and his team had completed several baseline surveys and identified basics on how the customary courts would operate.

Courts, he said, would first be established at village level considering distances and time required by the various communities to access such courts in the morning and return home before sunset.

Female Kaya elder, Marietta Ngona, 56, welcomed the decision by the Kaya Council of Elders to reinitiate the customary courts in the Coast and said that as a young girl she witnessed such courts resolve complicated cases especially those related to marriage and claims of witchcraft at community level.

She expressed confidence with plans to involve Kaya elders in the establishment of the courts and also involve women who in the past were kept away from such forums.

“The involvement of women in the courts will ensure fairness because in the past biasness’ at times cropped up among male Kaya elders as they resolved cases where women had been aggrieved,” she said.

ISSUE 099, July 1-31, 2014

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

9

Villagers turn to energy-saving stoves

By Robert Nyagah It is early in the morning at a typical rural homestead and smoke can be seen billowing from a kitchen whose roof and ventilation is now black with soot after years of use to prepare family meals.

Suddenly, Wangu Mwangi, with a baby strapped on her back emerges from the smoke filled kitchen coughing and rubbing her tear filled eyes roughly as she struggles to get fresh air away from the kitchen.

Action

The scene is Gatondo Village in Embu County and the woman in action is typical of a peasant farmer.

For Mwangi, just like in many typical rural settings in this region and others in Kenya, use of firewood and charcoal in the open three-stone-traditional stoves has for years remained a permanent feature of any homestead.

This means that thousands of women and perhaps their children are exposed to the dangerous fumes on a daily basis.

The dangers of inhaling the smoke from dry and green firewood are known to Mwangi and she admits that her frequent asthmatic like attacks may be linked to it.

She says that her child has been in and out of hospital in the recent past over a skin condition and a persistent cold.

In contrast to using electricity, kerosene and or charcoal to cook, Mwangi says firewood remains the cheapest source of cooking energy due to the ease at which it is accessed.

“We just go to the farm and chop a few branches from the trees and allow them to dry before we chop them into pieces of firewood for our cooking,” explains Mwangi.

So despite the well-known respiratory ailments that frequent exposure to firewood smoke could expose to its

victims like Mwangi, firewood continues to be religiously used in many rural homesteads in Embu County.

A survey in various outlets in Embu town, the capital of Embu County, where energy saving stoves are sold, indicates a low intake among customers.

In one of the Jua Kali outlets in Shauri Yako slum where John Kariuki, an artisan makes various energy-saving and low smoke emitting stoves or burners, only about three such stoves are popular with customers according to the artisan.

“The most popular is a burner which uses saw dust and although it smokes in the initial stages when lit, its fire improves and it can cook for hours without the need of having to add saw dust,” says Kariuki, who also sells another two jikos which use firewood and charcoal respectively.

On her part, Phyllis Wanjovi Ndavano, a peasant farmer in Gatondo area bought the saw dust stove using burners and appreciates that it works quite well.

“I appreciate that the burner using saw dust is cheaper to operate and offers at least four hours of cooking with intense heat, unlike the ordinary charcoal jiko which has to be restocked once it starts cooking,” observes Ndavano.

Introduce

She was introduced to the saw dust cooking burner by a neighbour and within the last one year more than 50 neighbours have adopted to the saw dust jiko.

According to Ndavano, most people who used to throw away saw dust after they cut trees to make timber are now preserving it for use in cooking.

She notes that carpenters have also found a new source of income for the saw dust which in the past would be thrown away or disposed at a cost in the various dumpsites, is now a value addition.

A kiosk operator prepares food outside her establishment using charcoal burners which are considered an alternative to the traditional open firewood stoves. Picture: Robert Nyagah James Kambeti Nyagah, a carpenter at Muthatari today sells a bag of saw dust at KSh100 and the customer has to pay at least KSh50 to motor cycle taxi operators to transport the saw dust home.

Despite the slow pace at which Kenyans, especially in the rural areas, today adopt environmentally friendly and energy saving stoves and burners, a number of private organisations today are, however, presently involved in promoting energy saving environmentally friendly cooking stoves to reduce health related drawbacks associated with smoke emitting stoves.

One of them is EcoZoom, a business that makes clean-burning cook stoves for people in developing countries presently working in Somalia, Rwanda and Kenya.

“EcoZoom stoves have been proven to reduce fuel use by 50 to 60 percent and toxic emissions by 70 per cent,” explains Amanda West, co-founder EcoZoom. She adds: “The stoves cut cooking time in half, which allows women to spend more time gardening, tending to children and socialising.”

Produce

The company produces and markets the stoves to its partners for distribution. The partners also translate instructions for the stoves and collect data about stove usage through surveys, technology and focus groups which helps EcoZoom design better stoves.

However, one small drawback in accessibility to EcoZoom stoves distribution is the fact that they are currently made in China.

Past research revealed that a local manufacturer whose capacity was tested could produce a mere 2,000 stoves per month, while the Chinese manufacturers had the capacity to spin out more than 70,000 stoves per month.

EcoZoom has two outlets in Nairobi, which is considered a hub for international development.

Since there was already a widely used local cooking stove — the Kenyan Ceramic Jiko. Kenya is the leading market for charcoal-only cooking stoves.

“All our markets present different business opportunities and challenges,” says West. She adds: “We think it is important to pursue them simultaneously because we want to provide high-value products that impact the entire world’s consumers.”

Video production company opens digital space for gospel artists

By MARY MWENDWA “A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step, so they say.” These are words of Paul Mukoma, founder and chief executive officer of PrinceCam Media.

In his mid-30s, Mukoma recalls how eight years back, he started his journey as a gospel music video producer.

Through his video production company, gospel artists have excelled on online platforms hence earning an income. They produce patriotic and good content video too.

“In a world where digital space is gaining popularity day by day, musicians can now enjoy the fruits of their labour by just a click of a button,” says Mukoma He notes that not so long ago it was easy for artists as the space was closed and people struggled to record using analogue technology which was costly and time consuming. However, due to the new revolution in technology, things are now different.”

With offices set Nairobi City, Mukoma recalls how he struggled to venture into the video production industry.

“I used to work on a gospel televi-

sion show for one of Kenya’s media houses in 2006 where I was in charge of producing music content for the programme and that is when the dream of music videos was born,” says Mukoma.

The show became so popular when we started featuring artists like Esther Wahome and late Angela Chibalonza, those were gospel hits by then, in the process of packaging

Paul Mukoma, founder and CEO Princecam studio.

Picture: Mary Mwendwa videos for the artists a serious need arose for more and more musicians.

“Gospel shows like the Storm on NTV started penetrating the market and this is when I now fully registered PrinceCam Media as a video production company for gospel artists,” Mukoma explains.

He notes that to generate content

is a very expensive venture one has to undertake as a video producer.

“There is a huge gap in the frequency of how content is developed here in Kenya and other developing nations, a serious issue that many content developers struggle with in Kenya,” says Mukoma.

PrinceCam Media boasts of hav-

ing produced some of the best gospel hit videos in Kenya in recent times.

Esther Wahome of the “Kuna dawa” fame as well as Emmy Kosgei, Jimmy Gait and Size 8 among others. These artists have scooped various top awards in gospel music categories.

“It is not as easy as people think when it comes to music video productions,” observes Mukoma.

PrinceCam Media can testify to that. They first listen to the audio of the musician, analyse the content and then determine the type of script from the same. Shooting budget is made and at this point if the budget is not friendly to the musician then there is room for adjustment depending on what the musician wants. Final stages include editing and marketing. At time, the company also helps in launching of the video.

According to Mukoma, it is expensive to buy equipment for this kind of work. He points out that piracy is still a challenge the industry is struggling with.

His company has been nominated for various awards for its outstanding contribution towards promoting gospel artists. They have been nominated for Mwafaka, Kubamba and Groove awards severally.

10

ISSUE 099, July 1-31, 2014

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Concerns raised over quality of education

By Carolyne Oyugi As the world marked the Day of The African Child, many children in Africa and developing countries still have nothing to smile about.

They have to bear a burden of poor governance and at times misplaced priorities.

Some 50 years after independence, and on the eve of the ambitious United Nations Millennium Development Goals deadline, many Kenyan children still lack basic human needs which are stated as their rights in the Constitution.

Implement

In particular, MDG2 was to ensure that all school-aged children in the world are in school and learning by the year 2015.

This year’s theme: “A child Friendly, Quality, Free and Compulsory Education for all Children in Africa” is all so familiar yet not fully implemented.

Children with disabilities are still stigmatised in the society and as a result some parents have resorted to hiding them in the houses due to embarrassment.

They are ashamed to be seen or be associated with them and would rather keep them under lock and key.

As a result they do not get the chance to enjoy free primary education provided by the Government.

However, some parents are trying to make their disabled children useful by taking them to school but are victims of the few public schools for disabled children.

According to Maria Omare, Chief Executive Officer, The Action Foundation, the fact that the schools are very far apart makes it even harder for children with physical disabilities to access and attend school.

“Some parents try their best by carrying their children on their backs but as time goes by they get tired and give up,” says the CEO.

Labor

Children from poor families are also haunted by the ghost of child labour. The girls are mostly used for domestic work while the boys are found in the farms and even factories grazing cattle, weeding and or doing annual work.

Others are forced to join beach work and as a result others end up in prostitution at a very early age.

On his part, Roland Angerer, the Regional Director Plan International for Eastern and Southern Africa, blames most of the misfortunes experienced by children on poor priority by the Governments.

“There is urgent need for African states to make quick progressive steps of ensuring that education systems in public as well as private schools is qualitative in nature and that it positively responds to all children, including retaining girl children in schools, integrating the most disadvantaged children such as those with disabilities and those from extreme poverty stricken families,” the director said.

He was addressing journalists in Nairobi during the launch of Plan International’s report on Violence Against Children in East Governments to Remove All barriers That Prevent Children From Accessing And Completing Their Education.

According to UNICEF, around 10

Pupils of Gitiba Primary School pose for a photo with Roland Angerer, Regional Director Plan International for Eastern and Southern Africa after launching the report. Below, the pupils reciting a poem.

Pictures: Carolyne Oyugi million children are married globally every year. Thirty million of the world’s 57million children out of school are in sub-Saharan Africa.

A campaign to end child marriage across Africa was launched in May 2014 by the African Union. One in three girls in low and middle-income countries are married by the age of 18.

Force

In Kenya 25 percent of children are forced into child marriage and in Nairobi it is 7 percent according to official records.

Once these girls are married off they never go back to school. This has a big impact on poor school completion rates and poor transition rates to secondary school and beyond.

Quality education is the surest way of achieving all the eight MDGs including maternal health.

Child trafficking is another barrier to children’s education. It is however unfortunate that many states have no clear records of how many children are being trafficked though they know it is big business.

Children are usually trafficked for child labour and prostitution. In some extreme cases they are even used for

sacrifice, rituals and body parts.

UNICEF and partners have secured the release of more than 1,000 children from armed groups in the civil-strife-ridden Central African Republic this year, more than five times the total number of children released in 2013.

Some communities also hide under culture and religion to abuse children. Children are either forced or convinced to go through Female Genital Mutilation FGM. Thirty

Quality education is the surest way of achieving all the eight MDGs including maternal health.

million girls in Africa are in danger of undergoing FGM in the next decade.

Achieve

While appreciating that most African governments and cooperating partners have made considerable investment in education and made progress in achieving universal education and gender parity in primary schools, it is worrying to note that a significant percentage of approximately over 10 per cent of girls and boys are still unable to access or benefit from education in a meaningful way particularly in relation to qualitative and inclusive education for all children including those from most

disadvantaged situations such as children with disabilities and those from extreme poverty stricken families.

The Day of the African Child is marked annually on June 16, in commemoration of the innocent children who were massacred in Soweto, South Africa in 1976 during a demonstration against the apartheid system of education.

It was designated in 1991 by the African Union and every year events are organised to promote children’s rights.

The biggest event this year was a youth takeover of the Africa Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, by 500 young people from countries all over the continent.

ISSUE 099, July 1-31, 2014

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

11

Fruit farmers could soon be Harmful chemicals smiling all the way to the bank found in fruits and vegetables

By Duncan Mboyah

By RUTH AYUGI Researchers are warning that some fruits and vegetables may cause more harm than good.

This is after a new study revealed that most fruits and vegetables sold in the country contain a mixture of dangerous pesticides and heavy metals that exceed safe levels.

Study

A joint research by the universities of Nairobi and Strathmore notes that most vegetables sold in the markets could be unfit for human consumption.

“The laboratory studies have shown that these pesticides can cause health problems including birth defects, nerve damage and cancer if consumed over a long period,” says Dr Kenneth Wameyo, a veterinary surgeon.

The report titled, Evaluation of the Safety of Selected Fruits and Vegetables Sold in the Domestic Markets in Kenya, says there is a heavy use of pesticides in tomatoes, kale (sukumawiki) and amaranth sold in the urban centres.

This has been indicated by the high level of residues.

Numerous samples of common vegetables and fruits drawn from open-air markets and supermarkets in Nairobi, Nakuru and Machakos found that sukuma-wiki, amaranth, tomatoes and mangoes contained chemical residues at levels not regarded as safe by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

In particular, high levels of lead were detected in samples of vegetables and fruits collected from farmers in Machakos County.

Contaminate

The results also show that due to poor production and handling practices disease-causing viruses, bacteria and fungi contaminate most raw fruits and vegetables.

For example contamination with pathogens was as a result of poor handling of manure by farmers and poor adherence to the instructions that come with the pesticides.

According to Wameyo, pesticides are generally worn out within certain periods and this may cause problems if the period stipulated is not strictly adhered to.

“Most retailers sprinkle vegetables and fruits with unclean and sometimes contaminated water in a bid to keep them fresh and appealing to their clients,” observes Wameyo.

He notes that most contamination from manure could be due to poor usage and application of manure.

“Animal waste should only be used as manure once it has been dried and treated, but most farmers apply it when it is still wet and contagious, which is a sure source of disease,” Wameyo explains.

According to the report, most vegetables and fruits also get contaminated during transportation mostly in open trucks.

The study further indicates that most vegetables and fruits with thinner skins, such as strawberries, peaches, apples, peppers, spinach, lettuces, kales and cabbages as well as traditional vegetables can have highest levels of pesticide residue while avocados, mangoes and banana showed low levels of pesticide residue.

Experts have developed a management measure that includes the application of biopesticide that helps keep off fruit flies that damage crops in Africa.

Scientists at the International Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) say the measure is expected to save many fruitgrowing countries in the continent where the crops play an important role in the economy by ensuring food security, improved income and creation of employment.

“Over 80 per cent of smallscale farmers grow fruits but due to infestation of fruit flies, they lose between 30-100 per cent of fruits to maggots that feed on the pulps estimated at over $2 billion annually,” explains Dr Sunday Ekesi, leader for Fruit Fly Programme at ICIPE. Addressing a media briefing Ekesi notes that Kenya has lost $2 million since 2008 due to quarantine restrictions imposed on avocado exports to South Africa as a result of infestation of the flies.

The United States of America federal order has also placed a total ban on several horticultural produce from countries in Africa where Bactrocera invadens have been reported.

According to Ekesi, the new measure includes monitoring the fruits, application of parasitoid, orchard sanitation, male annihilation, bait spray and post-harvest management.

Dominate

Kenya is a leading exporter of fruit juice in East Africa and could become dominant in other African markets. Exports of fresh passion fruit to Uganda and fresh mango to Tanzania have also increased significantly over the past three years due to favourable climatic conditions and suitable varieties.

Mangoes, avocadoes and passion fruit are the most important export fruits from Kenya to South Africa and the Middle East markets. These crops are of strategic importance as they provide cash income, contribute significantly to the nutrition and household food budgets of producers.

“The management measure in addition to the implementation of the European Union’s Maximum Residue Levels helps in improving yields, employs many people, contributes to low production costs and also enables farmers to access inputs,” Ekesi explains.

ICIPE has also developed and commercialised a bio-pesticides Campaign and Achieve against thrips, mealy bugs and fruit flies in collaboration with partnership with private sector.

In Kenya, Campaign and Achieve are registered and commercialised whereas in most countries in Africa, they are under registration.

Ekesi notes that the control

Nancy Waiyego , a fruit vendor in Adams Arcade Nairobi has been selling fruits for more than 10 years and is happy with the returns. Below, a mango infected by Bacterial black spot (note star-like cracks on the fruit). Pictures: George Ngesa and ICIPE measure is highly effective and should be propagated across the continent.

Expand

According to a study of the African market for Kenyan processed fruit products, the country is well positioned to expand production of the three main tropical fruits which include mango, pineapple and passion.

In a bid to improve intra-regional trade and open up markets for the region’s immense agricultural produce, Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA) has started engaging member states in finding solutions to trade barriers.

COMESA’s Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary (SPS) Unit is involved in an exercise to map the pest risks that Kenya is facing in ex-

porting fruits and also finding the means to address these risks.

COMESA is also in the process of compiling the Pest Risk Analysis (PRA) for packaged chillies and fruit exports to South Africa from Kenya. The body seeks to open more trade doors so that the region’s fruits and vegetables are more easily exported among member states and to the rest of the world.

This pest risk analysis is singularly targeted at accessing the South African market and the information gathered will be useful in fulfilling pest risk analysis requirements to address other market access requirements for

plant produce destined from the country.

COMESA is working with the exporters to propose mitigation measures that are cost effective and affordable, thus ensuring COMESA horticulture exports into the South African markets are sustained over a long period of time.

12

ISSUE 099, July 1-31, 2014

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Fears arise government could sabotage land reforms

By DUNCAN MBOYAH Civil Society Organizations engaged in land and natural resources are deeply concerned about what they describe as “calculated moves” by the Government to derail land governance processes in the country.

The organisations are blaming the Government of failing to leave land management to the National Land Commission that is mandated by the Constitution, to handle land matters in the country.

“The narrative adopted by the Executive is that the Government of the day is focused on an improved land delivery system through computerisation of land records to fast-track issuing of over three million titles yet this is not their responsibility,” noted Odenda Lumumba, national coordinator, Kenya Land Alliance.

Mandate

Under the 2010 Constitution, the National Land Commission is supposed to manage public land on behalf of the national and county governments, recommend a national land policy to the national government, advise the national Government on a comprehensive programme for the registration of title in land throughout Kenya. The National Land Commission is also expected to conduct research related to land and use of natural resources as well as make recommendations to appropriate authorities.

Lumumba observes that the plan is to ensure that the Commission does not exercise its mandate as provided for by the Constitution due to inadequate budgetary support and lukewarm political support.

Among issues the Commission is mandated to do include implementation of the National Land Policy that identified land issues requiring special intervention. Some of the issues identified include historical land injustices, pastoral land matters, coastal region land concerns, land rights of minority and marginalised groups as well as land rights of women and within informal settlements.

The civil society organisations are blaming Charity Ngilu, Lands Cabinet Secretary, for taking over land governance from the Commission contrary to the new constitutional requirements.

“The Constitution is to help transform land governance, management and administration by taking it away from the national Government that had been abusing for the past 50 years,” explains Lumumba.

Civil society organisations have also questioned the motive of the rise in large scale land based investments by domestic and foreign investors that continue to disposes local communities off their land, leaving them in abject poverty.

Criticise

They have criticised creation of the National Tilting Centre in Nairobi saying the

Charity Ngilu,Cabinet Secretary for Land guides workers in Ardhi House during a recent re-arrangement of the offices. National Land Commission is not happy with her work and complains of sabotage of their work.

Picture: Reject Correspondent attempt is to manage land matters from a back door.

Civil society organisations are demanding that the National Land Commission be allowed to perform its duty as stipulated in the Constitution and also to be housed in an independent office away from the Ministry of Lands so that the public is able to visit it freely.

They have also decried the re-occurrence of land clashes that started in 1992 due to underlying land issues that are

yet to be resolved by the Government.

“The Government’s role in land governance is a threat to the enjoyment of land rights and is not acceptable as an agenda for sustainable development and poverty reduction,” Lumumba explains.

The National Land Commission is in the process of developing a national land information management system to have people get their land documents at the county level.

Last month, Lands Cabinet

Secretary, Charity Ngilu said that the Ministry was keen on “cleaning the soiled reputation” that led to the disappearance of many files.

She has in the past been involved in a turf war with National Land Commission chairman, Dr Mohamed Swazuri, who claimed their role was being undermined by the Minister due to a clash in the interpretation of the land law.

Kenyans remain ignorant of land laws

By MARY MWENDWA Over 68 per cent of Kenyans do not understand the mandate of the National Land Commission and that of the Ministry of Lands.

A recently released report notes that most of the conflicts reported about land can be attributed to poor understanding of the various land laws.

Understand

The Land Act 2012; Land Registration Act, 2012, Environment and Land Court Act 2011, Urban Areas and Cities Act 2011 and The National Land Policy are some of the laws that most Kenyans neither understand nor have an idea about their existence.

According to Catherine Kariuki, board member Land Development and Governance Institute: “The levels of ignorance on land related issues are alarming.” She notes: “Women are most disadvan-

taged because African culture does not favour them in terms of inheriting property like land.”

According to Kariuki, this country needs to revisit the various laws on land and also conduct more civic education to the people at large.

The Land Development and Governance Institute recently had a public forum in Kajiado County where they discovered that there are many conflicts and controversy surrounding land.

Kajiado County borders Nairobi and was originally inhabited

by Maasai community. Due to population pressure from Nairobi County, more land-buyers have flocked Kajiado and bought land which has been subdivided for resettlement.

Since then, members of the Maasai community have now come to the realisation that they have lost a vital resource and are trying to reclaim some of it, a move that is leading to conflicts.

According to Kariuki, the draft Land Planning Bill which is still in process should be able to point the way forward to help in land planning challenges.

Recognise

The Constitution categorises land in three categories —government, trust and private. Land experts note that the Constitution does not recognise the uniqueness of land and lumps it with other categories of property.

Land experts have expressed their concerns over problems arising from land.

“Currently we have three major challenges in the land sector which are technical, political and administrative,” says Ibrahim Mwathane, a land expert. He explains: “Without an integrated system that brings multiple benefits to the country, land wars will not end any time soon.”

Experts in land note that there is an urgent need for the Gov-

ernment to have a computerised system to archive land files for efficiency and accountability purposes.

Similarly, the 14th Land Watch Note reports on the inconsistencies in the new land laws since the assumption of office by the National Land Commission. It points out the existence of differences over their mandate and that of Lands Ministry.

These have slowed down some of the expected land sector programmes and undermined service delivery at national and county level.

Mwathane notes: “There is need for interventions to bring the turf wars to an end at the earliest moment possible lest services to Kenyans by the two institutions continue to suffer.”

He adds: “A careful look at new land laws and in particular the Land Registration Act which spells the roles of each of the institutions on matters of land registries and land

registration over which there has been the most visible wars reflect common conflicts on some of the clauses.”

Change

There is also need for a change in attitude towards land matters by all stakeholders which has been cited as a critical area that will reform land sector.

For example, the National Land Commission’s mandate is to manage land on behalf of the national and county governments; recommend a national land policy to the national government and to advise the national government on a comprehensive programme for the registration of title in land throughout Kenya.

However, many Kenyans, out of ignorance, believe that it is the Land ministries role to manage land on behalf of the national and county levels, hence the need for awareness creation in regard to this.

ISSUE 099, July 1-31, 2014

13

Unfiltered, uninhibited…just the gruesome truth

Elusive Malaria bug continues to puzzle scientists

By DAVID NJAGI The search for a breakthrough to the Malaria menace appears to have scored some points lately, but scientists are still puzzled at the bug’s ability to defy advances made towards its eradication.

Experts agree that Malaria prevalence in Kenya is at its lowest ebb, having dropped from a peak parasite prevalence of 70 per cent in areas most seriously affected by the disease to a current low average rate of 30 to 35 per cent.

Tackle

However, it is the progress in tackling the disease in former hotspots like the Coast region that reassures experts that eradicating it is a possibility.

Experts say prevalence in the Coast region has come down to a rate of five to 10 per cent. Elsewhere, in Mwea Rice Irrigation Scheme, very few malaria cases have been detected lately.

However, Lake Victoria region is yet to record convincing progress as malaria prevalence is still around 30 per cent.

According to Prof Clifford Mutero, lead researcher in Integrated Vector Management (IVM) at ICIPE, these headways could be linked to a recent scaling-up of community-based interventions, particularly the use of longlasting insecticide-treated nets.

The Division of Malaria Control has also contributed to Malaria decline through Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) programmes.

Mutero explains that long-lasting insecticide-treated nets are laced with insecticides commonly known as pyrethroids, which have the potency to kill any mosquitoes that land on the nets while attempting to ‘feed on people’ at night.

“Indoor Residual Spraying involves the spraying of residual insecticides inside the houses within regions where Malaria epidemics are known to occur from time to time,” explains Mutero.

Indoor Residual Spraying is normally carried out just before the longrains season to prevent Malaria outbreaks due to an increase in ground water pools which could potentially turn into ideal mosquito breeding sites.

Focus

Indoor Residual Spraying has been focused in the malaria hotspots in the Lake Victoria basin and epidemic-prone highlands west of the Rift Valley.

However, current gains in Malaria control are fragile and the situation could easily slide back to the bad old days.

According to Mutero, the mosquito has quickly learned to adapt to new ways which favour survival of its species.

“For instance, the insect has now developed new peculiar feeding patterns like picking its human prey

Indoor residual spraying is one of the effective ways of controlling malaria in mosquito-endemic areas. Picture: Courtesy outdoors instead of indoors,” explains Mutero.

The challenge, however, is not limited to the change in feeding from indoors to outdoors. Climate change is, on the other hand, expanding the range of diseases to areas where they were previously uncommon.

Mutero notes this is allowing vectors like mosquitoes to breed in places where they have never been before.

“Mosquitoes have traditionally been associated with hot and humid low lying areas,” Mutero explains. He notes: “As temperatures increase you are likely to see the distribution of mosquitoes extend to highland areas like in the West of Rift Valley.”

Changes in agricultural activities due to climate change are also creating new Malaria zones.

“Expansion of irrigated agriculture to areas where malaria was previously not a big problem potentially increases Malaria risk due to the creation of new mosquito breeding sites,” argues Mutero.

Meanwhile, research indicates that mosquitoes have increasingly

become resistant to insecticides like dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT).

At the same time, other studies have linked DDT to cancer and reproductive health problems such as low sperm count among men.

However, the cloud should not obscure the silver lining.

Actors such as ICIPE, Ministry of Health and civil society organisations like the Kenya NGOs Alliance Against Malaria (KeNAAM), are certain that Integrated Vector Management (IVM) could play a bigger role in offsetting the emerging challenges.

Research

Presently, there are several environmental management methods that researchers view as being capable of helping to take malaria control to the next level if combined with the insecticide-based long-lasting insecticide-treated nets and Indoor Residual Spraying.

For instance, in settings where flooded rice irrigation is thought to

be the main cause of Malaria risk, improved water management can certainly prove to be useful.

“Water management in an irrigation scheme, specifically alternating wet and dry conditions can significantly reduce mosquitoes that breed in such a situation that in a way can contribute to reduction of Malaria in that ecosystem,” explains Mutero.

Another addition to the Integrated Vector Management method could be to use zooprophylaxis, or the science of deploying domestic animals such as cattle to divert mosquitoes away from people.

“Certain important malaria-carrying mosquitoes prefer to take their blood meals from cows rather than from human beings. Cows do not suffer from malaria, so even if the mosquitoes have parasites in them, the parasites will die if injected in the cattle by the mosquitoes as they take a blood-meal from the animal,” explains Mutero.

“Biological control involving the use of living agents such as fish which feed on mosquito larvae could

“Water management in an irrigation scheme, specifically alternating wet and dry conditions can significantly reduce mosquitoes that breed in such a situation that in a way can contribute to reduction of Malaria in that ecosystem.”

— Prof Clifford Mutero, lead researcher in Integrated Vector Management (IVM) at ICIPE

be yet another practical intervention that could be included in an Integrated Vector Management package for mosquito control in other situations,” notes Mutero.

“There may be a big pond you want to drain to kill mosquito larvae, but you cannot drain it because it may be needed by people for drawing water and also watering livestock.”

Mutero reiterates. He adds: “So in that case you may want to consider introducing types of fish such as Gambusia species, or even Tilapia, which feed on mosquito larvae.”

According to Mutero, biological control could also involve the introduction of bio-larvicides such as Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (Bti), which are products of bacteria that are highly effective against mosquito larvae.

Caution

ICIPE is also researching other bio-pesticides like botanical products thought to be harmful to mosquitoes and not other organisms or human beings.

However, researchers at the institution are cautious because not all botanical products are harmless. At the same time, some of these methods are said to be costly.

“Methods such as larviciding are relatively more expensive than longlasting insecticide-treated nets and can be a challenge especially now that the Government is facing constraints in funding malaria control,” observes John Logedi, director at Kenya’s Division of Malaria Control.

Executive Director: Arthur Okwemba Editor: Jane Godia

Write to: info@mdcafrica.org

Sub-Editors: Carolyne Oyugi, Joyce Chimbi and Odhiambo Orlale Designer: Noel Lumbama

Contributors: Robert Wanjala ,Omondi Gwengi, Mary Mwendwa, Robert Nyagah , Henry Kahara, Malachi Motano, Anthony Zoka,David Njoroge, Ruth Ayugi ,David Njagi,Ben Oroko.

www.mdcafrica.org

The paper is supported by: