Une image de la campagne electorale presidentielle...

Rift Valley Fever threat subject of hype and misinformation


Publication Date: 2/21/2007

Contrary to recent reports in the Nation, we wish to advise that Rift Valley fever is neither deadly — except for lambs where mortality can in some circumstances reach 25 per cent — nor responsible for the economic losses facing livestock producers and traders in livestock products.

Rift Valley fever has been recognised and has been with us for the better part of a century. There have been numerous outbreaks during this period brought on by seasonal proliferation of mosquito populations, which are responsible for spreading the virus through their bite.

Although there is no specific treatment for infection by the virus, other than ensuring that body temperature during the cycle of the disease is kept down, it has been found that outbreaks can be contained by effective surveillance and prophylactic vaccination when indicated.

What has been responsible for the significant economic losses sustained by livestock producers and product traders — particularly in the small-scale and “informal” sectors — is the irresponsible “hype” and misinformation that has accompanied the recent outbreak of the fever in various parts of the country. Who or what is responsible for the hype and misinformation must remain subjects for conjecture.

What is irrefutable is that the daily road carnage on our roads is many, many times the number of deaths which have been very likely incorrectly attributed to Rift Valley fever. Very likely incorrectly attributed to RFV because a significant percentage of the population, if tested for RFV antibodies, would test positive — even if alive and well.

If the same sort of hype and misinformation was applied to our use of the roads and transport it would likely bring the entire economy to its knees because very few of us would get from our homes to our places of work.

We had hoped that the matter would be dealt with by some appropriate correct information dissemination and aggressive public relations by the Department of Veterinary Services.

To this end, we had addressed a letter to the Director of Veterinary Services copied to the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries Development.

In view of the extreme urgency of the situation we had hoped the matter would have been dealt with by them by now. This does not appear to have been the case.

With further reference to Nation writer Gatonye Gathura’s article entitled, ‘Irony in slow response to fever’ (Saturday Nation, February 17), we have noted the differences in the suggested reasons for the United States vaccine development.

Both his and our explanations on this issue are equally plausible, and we have recently been made aware of the American Government’s handling of information or misinformation.

The point remains that whilst human populations can be temporarily disabled by RFV infection after a mosquito bite, they are extremely unlikely to die, and they are certainly not ever going to be infected by eating meat or drinking milk.

PETER M. LOW

Let's sustain gains on tourism

Story by ROBERT SHAW
Publication Date: 2/21/2007

This year the number of international visitors arriving through our airports is likely to hit one million. This will be a milestone for Kenyan tourism. In the mid 1980’s the then Tourism Minister Maina Wanjigi said Kenya would have one million tourists a year by the end of that decade. Now, more than 20 years later, that dream will be realised.

The number of overseas tourists has risen by leaps and bounds in the past four years from half a million in 2001 and 2002 to 690,000 in 2004, to 954,000 last year. These figures exclude land crossings by non-Kenyans.

Annual growth

Tourism is now Kenya’s leading foreign exchange earner and brought in Sh56.2 billion last year as opposed to its nearest rival tea with Sh48.9 billion. Its annual growth is now way above the annual average growth rate worldwide of around 4.5 per cent. Its improved performance has been a major stimulus to Kenya’s improved economic growth.

But one needs to dig deeper to see where we have come from, where we are at today and what we need to do to sustain that growth. The first thing that comes out is that after years of unimpressive growth and even stagnation, the tourism sector has definitely made a comeback. Much of that is to do with the fact that at last Kenya has got its marketing act together. Not only has there been a sizeable increase in destination Kenya marketing but it has become more focussed, professional and concerted.

One pertinent factor is that most of the growth has come from Kenya’s traditional core markets in Europe and the US despite ventures into other markets. Last year there were 171,409 and 86,528 visitors from the UK and US respectively as opposed to 14,778 and 14,655 from China and Japan.

Another is that although the recent growth has been impressive Kenya’s share of the Sh842 million annual tourism cake is a mere crumb. It deserves a bigger share of the cake.

The industry has now caught up with what it lost and some of what it failed to achieve in the 1990s. Where it goes from now and how it does this needs some very serious thought and planning. Kenya’s tourism industry certainly has the potential to grow at a generous pace but that will not come automatically. Several constraints and challenges hang on the horizon.

Catching up is arguably the easy part, especially when there was so much spare capacity. But now the sector must increase bed capacity and quality of service to meet want the visitors want. For example if there is an increased demand and preference for smaller tented camps rather than the traditional lodges, then that is the way we must go.

If the answer for Coast tourism is massive renovation, refurbishment and uplifting of standards, then we have no choice but to do that.

But it is more than just that. For example, the Masai Mara has been designated as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. But not only are the roads to and in the Masai Mara an embarrassing disgrace but this relatively small reserve is getting increasingly congested.

Camps and lodges

In the face of increasing popularity is the answer really to have a moratorium on new camps and lodges or to literally think out of the Mara National Reserve box?

Is there not much potential to set up wildlife conservancies with stakeholders in adjacent areas? The same thinking must be applied to other products.

Last, appalling roads and insecurity are major constraints to national development as well as tourism and must be given a much, much higher priority than they are at present.

Mr Shaw writes on economic issues.


Photo jointe : lodge au Masai Mara : Keekerok Lodge

Le Kenya avait décidé d'introduire, en mai dernier, les nouveaux médicaments combinés anti-paludéens remplaçant ceux conventionnels car près de 25 pc des personnes traitées par ces derniers ne guérissent pas, selon le ministère de la santé.

Le nouveau traitement est toléré à 95 pc et il est prescrit pour la forme la plus dangereuse du malaria, le falcirum. Il agit directement sur les parasites présents dans le sang et ''casse'' ainsi la transmission.

Environ 40 pc des dépenses du ministère de la Santé kenyan sont destinés à la lutte contre cette maladie endémique qui représente 30 pc du taux de morbidité et de mortalité dans le pays et la première cause de mortalité chez les moins cinq ans.
Publié le: 18/02/2007 à 10:51:23 GMT Source : MAP

Retour de la fièvre de la vallée du Rift
LE MONDE | 16.02.07


A l'échelle de l'Afrique de l'Est, l'alerte est régionale. Le virus de la fièvre de la vallée du Rift frappe, de nouveau, des humains et des animaux au Kenya, en Tanzanie, et en Somalie, où l'épidémie a fait près de 200 morts au total depuis sa réapparition en décembre 2006, après dix ans d'absence. Au Kenya, la présence du virus a été observée dans 25 districts. A Nairobi, deux cas ont été signalés, dont un journaliste qui revenait d'un reportage sur la maladie, dans le district de Garissa, épicentre de l'épidémie. La présence du virus a également été confirmée en Tanzanie voisine, où deux personnes ont été tuées.

Le virus, isolé pour la première fois en 1930 dans un élevage de moutons de la vallée du Rift, au Kenya, réapparaît en moyenne tous les sept à dix ans. Il frappe en priorité le bétail - ovins avant tout, puis chèvres et vaches, mais également d'autres espèces, y compris sauvages. Il est ensuite transmis aux hommes, l'épizootie (animale) se doublant alors d'une épidémie (humaine). Chez la plupart des humains, le virus déclenche une maladie comparable le plus souvent à une forte grippe ou à une crise de paludisme, même si un certain nombre de personnes peuvent être infectées sans le savoir. Dans moins de 1 % des cas survient une fièvre hémorragique, avec les symptômes communs aux maladies de la même famille, comme Ebola ou la fièvre de Marburg.

La transmission à l'homme se fait par l'intermédiaire de piqûres de moustiques, ou le contact avec les fluides d'animaux infectés. Par exemple, les éleveurs qui aident les femelles de leurs troupeaux frappées par des fausses couches sont contaminés au contact du liquide amniotique ou des placentas. Dans les abattoirs, de fines particules de sang en suspension dans l'atmosphère peuvent également infecter les employés.

Au Kenya, la consommation de viande a chuté de manière spectaculaire, encore non chiffrée avec précision, alors que le prix du poisson et de la volaille s'envole. La ministre de la santé, Charity Ngilu, a déclaré que des éleveurs au bord du désespoir l'appelaient "sur (son) propre téléphone portable pour signaler des animaux malades".

Alors que le pic de l'épidémie est "déjà dépassé", selon le Dr Seifuddin Maloo, chef de la mission de Vétérinaires sans frontières (VSF) qui couvre la région, des embargos dans les pays voisins frappant la viande et le bétail de la Corne de l'Afrique menacent d'avoir des conséquences économiques dévastatrices. En 1996, avant la dernière apparition du virus, la Somalie comptait le premier troupeau de chameaux au monde, avec 1,2 million de têtes. Comme les ovins ou les bovins, ceux-ci sont destinés aux pays de la péninsule Arabique, mais aussi à l'Asie centrale, qui importe des carcasses congelées, ou, via Dubaï, aux Emirats arabes unis, vers l'Asie du Sud-Est.

Un retour des embargos serait dramatique, notamment pour l'économie somalienne, qui repose en grande partie sur ces exportations. Ces effets sont d'autant plus graves que les éleveurs de la région viennent de subir une série de catastrophes d'ampleur biblique. Les pasteurs kényans de la province du Nord-Est ont perdu en moyenne près de 50 % de leurs troupeaux pendant la sécheresse de 2006. Celle-ci a laissé place à des pluies diluviennes, au troisième trimestre 2006, qui ont causé des inondations, tuant encore des animaux.

Enfin, le bétail a commencé à être frappé, en fin d'année, par l'épizootie, entraînant la fermeture des principaux marchés et l'instauration d'interdictions de circuler. Quelques années plus tôt, le coût local de mesures similaires avait été estimé à 1,2 million d'euros par jour. Le responsable vétérinaire officiel de la région avait échappé de peu à un lynchage par les éleveurs...

"Il existe des moyens pour anticiper l'apparition de la maladie, trois ou quatre mois à l'avance, notamment par l'observation satellite de la température de l'océan Indien et des changements de couleur de la végétation", avertit Marco de Nardi, vétérinaire de la Coopération internationale italienne (Coopi). Dans les deux cas, ces facteurs sont les symptômes de pluies abondantes qui vont favoriser l'éclosion des oeufs de moustiques porteurs du virus. "Les météorologistes prévoient déjà que de fortes chutes de pluie devraient à nouveau avoir lieu entre mars et avril, se désole Marco de Nardi. Cela rend possible une nouvelle résurgence de la maladie. En vaccinant le bétail en ce moment, on cherche en réalité à se protéger contre la prochaine épidémie."

Source: Government of Kenya

Date: 31 Jan 2007

Kenya: Drought monthly bulletin, Samburu district - Jan 2007


Situation Overview

Stability

Wet conditions impacted by the short rains were reversed by high rate of evapo-transpiration that resulted to withering of vegetation in most areas. Isolated showers were also registered in particular areas but the impacts were insignificant.

Forage conditions remain stable especially in reserved areas for dry season grazing areas. Most livestock herds utilized their wet season grazing areas with exception of upper parts of Lorroki plateau where herds moved to areas of Kisima and Kirimon for salt lick and better pastures.

High rate of evaporation impacted negatively on water availability in natural ponds, pans, and streams. Water availability however remains stable in the entire district except in particular areas like Loruko in Nyiro division where access to water is limited.

Availability

Livestock body conditions stabilized across all species despite reported incidences of CCPP in goats, Helminthiasis in sheep, and ECF in cattle. Vet department and MoH. have been involved in awareness creation to communities on the reported out break of rift-valley fever country wide, and the need to report any suspected signs.

Livestock prices in all species appreciated as compared to last months prices. This may be attributed to improved livestock body conditions. However the imposition of quarantine that is almost country wide will be detrimental to pastoralists economy a situation that’s in evitable.

Though milk production is reported to have stabilized, this is only for households that have small stock and camels. Production in cattle remain poor this is attributed to poor lactation regime.

Re-settling back by displaced households in parts of Lorroki and Kirisia divisions have been an on- off affair. However peace talks between the warring communities have also been continuous despite few interruptions at times.

Access

Malaria, diarrhea and upper respiratory tract infection were the common human ailments reported. The effects however remain within manageable levels as there were no major out breaks reported.

Though there are registered improvements in livestock body conditions that triggered better prices, imposition of quarantine will bear a negative impact to pastoralist’s economy limiting access to food at household level.

Lambing and kidding declined as compared to last month, calving rates in cattle were low implying slow rate of herd size build up in cattle despite stabilized body conditions.

Utilization

Reported tension in Baragoi and Nyiro divisions subsided due to rigorous dialogues engaged by warring communities facilitated by both peace committees and district security teams. Recoveries of stolen livestock and compensations to losses were agreed upon by the warring communities. Calm security situation will therefore facilitate an enabling environment for livelihoods.

Food deficits remain eminent at the household level due to destabilized livestock production in all species. While the Agro-pastoral livelihood zone witnessed below normal maize crop harvest due to insecurity situation that led to displacements.

Taking the moral high ground is cheap and easy way out

Story by LUCY ORIANG'
Publication Date: 2/16/2007

Let’s start with the facts and figures: More than 13,000 girls drop out of school every year because they are pregnant, according to the Ministry of Health. If you are one of those people whose brains freeze when faced with calculations, they have conveniently broken it down to a weekly rate — that’s 250-plus.

On average, most girls have their first sexual experience at 16.7 years and boys at 16.8. And that’s looking on the brighter side of things. Many teenagers are sexually active at 13. Nearly half have gone beyond experimenting by the time they are 15 to 19.

Even then, they generally have no clue about safe sex and have no access to contraception. Think of it: Even though condoms might be the talk of town, it is not as if they come free. And they may not be readily available at your village shopping centre, probably comprising just two roadside shops.

Girls can get contraceptives — and any useful information — only after they have already had a baby, rather like closing the gate after the horse has bolted.

There is a problem, too, with being seen to have popped into a clinic to talk about sex and contraception. Good girls keep their legs crossed, and the news of so-and-so’s daughter having been seen at a certain clinic is bound to make waves in tight-knit communities.

As if this is not enough, there is evidence that all the huffing and puffing leads to 5,000 abortions or so per week — almost 30 every hour. Given the illegal and, therefore, secret nature of abortion, there’s a chance that your own daughter or sister may have contributed to these damning figures. And let’s not forget the male in her life, please, since pregnancy of any kind involves two sets of chromosomes.

You now have permission to gasp in outrage and wonder aloud what the world has come to. All this is alien to African culture blah, blah, blah. Well, all the best things in life — including youth itself — come to an end sometime. Mourning about a supposedly idyllic past is an idle pursuit.

The greater contribution to this debate is not self-righteous posturing — no sex for us, please, we are Kenyans! It is to contribute a meaningful and practical way forward for youth caught at a crossroads. On the one hand, they are still young enough to be thoroughly frightened at the idea of pregnancy and on the other old enough to appreciate the pleasures of sex.

THERE ARE TWO WAYS WE CAN LOOK at the crisis. We can take the moral high ground and refuse to confront the issues at stake. We can persist in seeing the teenagers in our homes as children and not as young adults who are undergoing a sea change not only in the development of bodies and minds but also in emotions and feelings that they don’t know what to make of.

We will pay a high price for remaining tight-lipped when we should be sitting down with our young for The Talk. Nature does not allow for vacuums and we have a choice — either swallow our discomfort and tell them all about the birds and bees or leave it to their age-mates, blue movies or the Internet. There’s no accounting for what they will come up with on their own.

In the close confines of life in urban slums and impossibly tiny housing units, the teenager with raging hormones doesn’t even have to go outside her home for a first-hand glimpse of things sexual. They share living and sleeping space with parents who are bound to get all hot and bothered within hearing distance. You can’t blame the teenager newly aware of her sexuality for wanting to find out exactly why it is that things go bump in the dark. At this point, many parents will take the attitude that they have no business knowing all about things sacred and that they should wait in line for their turn — some 10 years or so hence.

Just the other week, with the release of the Infotrak research on young women and their sex lives, we got an earful and eyeful of the usual rhetoric. Clever words like moral decadence were thrown about; someone or another called on someone or another to take action on the evidence of a further slide in our social mores. Someone somewhere marvelled at yet more evidence of how corrupt today’s youth has become — and girls, at that!

In the distant past, we had the benefit of grannies and other relatives who stepped into the breach when parents felt too tongue-tied to say the “s” word aloud. Now there is an impasse over whether or not to do sex education at all.

Today’s parents can’t afford the luxury of dilly-dallying. Not with the statistics we are looking at. Take control or pay the price — or, at least, your child does. It is up to you to tell your offspring how the cookie crumbles. Some things you just don’t delegate. But if the statistics are anything to go by, the majority of us have chickened out and left our kids at the mercy of the elements.

The Ministry of Health is now speaking of reproductive health rights and informed choices for young people. There is a case for full disclosure when it comes to letting them know how they can protect themselves from the worst effects of youthful exuberance. Parenthood, not to mention death, will come soon enough, so what’s the hurry? If they still go ahead and mess up their lives, we will have done our duty, at least.

LE MEME FAIT RAPPORTE PAR DEUX SOURCES DIFFERENTES...
A QUOI TIENT L'INSTRUCTION ET L'AVENIR D'UN ADOLESCENT ...

Kenya : Les discriminés du prépuce
Vingt élèves d’un établissement secondaire pour garçons à Kiriani, dans l’Est du Kenya, ont été expulsés parce qu’ils n’étaient pas circoncis, a rapporté mardi la BBC. Pour expliquer leur décision, les responsables du collège ont indiqué qu’ils voulaient éviter que les enfants ne soient malmenés par leurs camarades. La circoncision permettrait de réduire les risques de contamination par le virus du sida.


School where boys have to be ‘men’

Story by PATRICK MUTHURI and MUCHEMI WACHIRA
Publication Date: 2/15/2007

The excitement that comes with joining Form One was evident on the faces of the young students as they were guided by their parents through the gates of Kiriani Boys Secondary School in Meru South District last week.

They were excited to be joining secondary school and many of the parents had toiled hard to meet the many expenses that come with sending children to high school.

The usual words of advise for the students to take their studies seriously could be heard as the parents bid their children goodbye and left them behind.

But 25 of the parents could not believe their eyes when three days later, their children arrived home, carrying all their belongings and a letter from the principal, Mr Ngaruthi Kithinji, saying they could not be allowed in the school because they were not circumcised.

They were lost for words.

Resume studies

Even if they were to take their sons to be circumcised, it would take no less than a month for them to heal enough to resume studies. Meanwhile, other students would be going on with learning.

But Mr Kithinji said the presence of the uncircumcised boys in the school could lead to unrest.

“There was a lot of screaming and disturbances when your son was discovered to be the way he is. Just like you cannot keep your elder son who is uncircumcised in the same room with your younger son, this also applies in the dorms,” Mr Kithinji said.

He told the parents of the affected children to have them circumcised in two weeks and take them back to school when they get well.

The suspension letter reads in part: “This is to inform you that your son cannot fit in school under the condition he is in. You sneaked your son in school without reporting to us that the boy was not done to be like others i.e. circumcised.”

The principal argued that when such boys were in school, they were a source of discomfort to the others and they themselves ended up suffering psychologically.

But a parent, Mr Peter Meme, who says he had met all the conditions the school required, said circumcision was not among them, otherwise, he would have abided by it.

“But unfortunately within three days, they were chased away. It’s very devastating,” said Mr Meme.

Mr Samuel Muriuki said his son had vowed not to go back to that school even after undergoing the rite.

The parents are now appealing to the Government to intervene.

“I had great visions in life when I received my admission letter... I had worked very hard in my former school, but this was cut short by the older boys we met in the school,” said a tearful student, whose parents did not want named.

Trouble started on their first night in school. The older boys ordered the newcomers to strip naked so that they could be inspected. Those who were not circumcised spent the whole night going through all manner of torture and insults.

Says one of the boys: “The first night was very bad. We were never given a chance to rest or sleep even after the long journey. They started shouting and asking us silly questions like are you a man or a woman?”

“They asked for money and keys to my box. I was then ordered to remove my trousers to prove I was a man. When I refused, more than 10 boys pinned me down and stripped me naked. The next thing I heard was “mwiji” (uncircumcised man in Kimeru) is here,” said another boy. More than 30 boys spent the night in a corner of the dormitory where they were splashed with water. The older boys took their mattresses and blankets.

The following day, they reported the matter to the principal, who instead of assisting them, sent them home.

“I will never go back to that school again if that’s what happens in high school... The principal ordered all the uncircumcised boys to go to his office and upon confession, we received a letter and we were sent home,” said another.

Residents told the Nation that it had become the norm to have boys circumcised during the April holidays — after the first term in Form One.

“Circumcising the boys before the KCPE results are out has proved disastrous because some fail to continue with education and instead plunge themselves into the miraa trade” said Mr Gitonga Marete, who comes from the area.

The Meru South district commissioner, Mr William Kiprono, ordered the immediate reinstatement of the students, saying it was wrong to take such a discriminative action.

“Circumcision is a cultural thing not accepted in some societies. It’s wrong to chase students from a public school because it is not government policy,” said Mr Kiprono, while apologising to the students and their parents.

“The bullies were the ones to be sent off and not the other way round,” he said.

Local district education officer John Owino accused the principal of succumbing to pressure from the students “who appeared to have taken control of the school”.

“He did not even inform my office when the problem cropped up and I blame him,” he said.

But even as Education minister George Saitoti was condemning the action by the headteacher, the students demonstrated in his support yesterday afternoon.

It is possible to do without meat


Publication Date: 2/13/2007

A story entitled, ‘Meat eaters are all in panic’ (DN, February 8) dwelt on the unfortunate spread of Rift Valley Fever. But there is no need for panic.

In earlier generations, most Kenyans lived perfectly well, eating meat rarely. In fact, many still eat little meat. It is far from being the only source of protein.

Traditional foods such as beans, lentils, and green grams are rich in protein and when eaten in variety are more than adequate nutritionally, and certainly healthier than meat, as every reputable scientific study comparing the health of meat eaters and vegetarians has shown.

Soya beans contain about 40 per cent protein, compared with less than 20 per cent in meat, with all the essential amino acids present.

And if it is the chewy texture of meat that you will miss, why not go to the supermarket and buy some soya chunks?

This food is made of soya that has been simply processed to give it the texture of meat. Living the meatless way is healthier, more compassionate to animals, and more efficient in the use of land and water.

For further advice on the advantages of ‘meatless living’ write to P.O. Box 13200, Nakuru, or email: afb@wananchi.com

NEVILLE FOWLER,
Nakuru.

Reporting from Nanyuki, on the slopes of Mt Kenya, a town well-known for meat eating, Marisela Njenga says the Rift Valley has surprisingly transformed the place into a vegetarians’ haven. Says she: “If Kenyans could avoid Aids as much as they do the RVF, deaths from the scourge would be fewer. And how I wish they could shun tribalism the same say. Our country would be better off.”