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Kenya: Vaccine Response to Cervical Cancer

The Nation (Nairobi)
Gatonye Gathura

Plans are in place for Kenyan girls and women to access the world's first cervical cancer vaccines through an international action plan launched in Nairobi yesterday.

The move comes a few months after the world's first cervical cancer vaccine, Gadsil, was introduced into the local market.

Gadsil, approved in the US last year, has already been registered in the country and is available commercially.

But at the commercial cost of Sh10,000 per dose, it is just available to a handful of Kenyan girls and women.

However through the campaign launched yesterday during the ongoing global summit on Aids - Global Call - thousands of schoolgirls could be vaccinated and several million women screened for cervical cancer.

The campaign launched in Nairobi by legislator Betty Tett, will galvanise a global movement akin to the one that has made anti-retroviral drugs available to the poorest in the world in the past three years.

Preferential costing

Already, studies are going on in Uganda, Peru, India and Vietnam to determine the best delivery systems, cost and accessibility and if found suitable, findings will be presented to vaccine manufacturers for preferential costing.

"We are asking governments in developing countries to prioritise cervical cancer in their national development and health programmes and make budgetary allocations so that we can approach donors and manufacturers as a group and reap the benefits of economies of scale," said Tara Acharya of Rockefeller Foundation during the four month campaign launch.

Gadsil makers Merck Sharp and Dohme have shown willingness to offer the three dose once a lifetime vaccine at preferential cost to developing countries that can present a workable investment case.

GlaxoSmithKline have also developed a cervical cancer vaccine Cervarix and have already applied for local registration.

They hope to have it in the market before the end of this year. According to GSK managing director John Musunga they hope the vaccine to be fairly priced.

The Global Call comes at a time cervical cancer has become the single biggest killer of women in Kenya among all other tumours. According to data released in December by the Kenya Medical Research Institute cancer registry, cervical cancer is now the number one killer tumour of women, surpassing breast cancer.

The data covering 3,310 cases showed cervical cancer accounting for 23 per cent of all cancer cases while penile cancer was almost non-existent despite being caused by the same agent - the Human Papillomavirus (HPV).

The virus is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections and a leading cause of the cancer. The virus is transmitted through sexual intercourse, though other peripheral risks involve things like sex toys or surgical gloves. It is estimated that the lifetime risk of a woman getting HPV is 50 per cent.

"But the chances of the HPV turning cancerous in HIV positive women is even higher especially in Africa where the burden of Aids is significantly higher. Approximately 77 percent of women with HIV also have HPV," says Dr Florence Manguyu, a senior policy advisor with the International Aids Vaccine Initiative.

But availability of technologies is no proof that they will be picked up. Although the gold standard diagnosis for cervical cancer - Pap smear - which allows for detection and early treatment is available in Kenya, less than one per cent of women in the country have been screened.

At Kenyatta National Hospital, which has the country's only public radiotherapy unit, over 500 cases are referred for treatment every year.

Since many women are unable to travel to Nairobi from other parts of the country for diagnosis and treatment, this figure possibly represents a very small proportion of the total number of women in need of care.

In fact, limited research suggests that over 600,000 women throughout Kenya may have signs of cervical cancer and thus require treatment to prevent the disease from developing.

Kenya Medical Women's Association with the Family Planning Association of Kenya run the Well-Woman Clinic in Nairobi, which offers cancer screening services.

The Global Call brings 13 civil society and public health organisations from across the world and wants to make sure this new cervical cancer treating technologies are available to the developing countries as soon as possible.

There is usually a 15 to 20 year delay between the time new vaccines are approved in the West and the time they are available to the masses in poor countries.

"The world cannot afford to wait for new cervical cancer vaccine and screening tests to eventually trickle down from wealthy to developing countries where women need these life-saving technologies today," says Dr Ariel Pablos-Mendez of Rockefeller Foundation.

"This campaign proposes to galvanise political government to prioritise cervical cancer in their national development and health programmes, get donors medical professionals and the civil society on board, but even more important get women and girls to know that HPV is a big problem but they can, as individuals and groups do something about it," says Ms Allison Cohen of Global Health strategies, who are jointly coordinating the campaign.

The vaccine is 100 per cent effective in protecting women against the virus causing cervical cancer if used before they become sexually active.

Almost all sexually active men and women contract the highly contagious Human Papilloma Virus, responsible for 99.7 percent of all cervical cancer, at some point in time, but mostly before 45 years of age.

Most of the strains of this virus are harmless, while some cause cancer or genital warts. But in most cases, the body is able to eliminate HPV.

If the virus remains in the body for over a year, there is a high risk of the virus penetrating cells of the cervix, causing abnormal cell multiplication.
This risk is higher in young women who are not yet past adolescence.

According to experts, mass vaccinations of girls from the age of nine is the ideal, and several countries, including Finland, Scotland and the United States, have introduced such programmes.

"Programmes like this would be ideal, also here in Kenya," said Prof Ruth Onian'go during the launch.

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WHO lauds Kenya's fight against HIV/Aids

The World Health Organisation has lauded the Government's efforts in the fight against HIV/Aids.

WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan said due to these efforts, HIV prevalence in the country had declined from 14 per cent in the late 1990s to the current 5.9 per cent.

Speaking at State House, Nairobi, where she held talks with President Mwai Kibaki, Chan said WHO would continue to offer technical assistance to the Ministry of Health in combating incidences of Tuberculosis, HIV/Aids, Malaria among other diseases.

President Kibaki said the Government had put in place appropriate measures aimed at controlling the spread of the disease, adding that currently 156,000
patients were on anti-retroviral treatment free of charge.

The President also said 8.4 million free nets had been distributed over the last four years to in a bid to fight malaria. Of these, 3.4 million were given to pregnant mothers and children below 5 years.

"As a result there has been no malaria epidemic in the last four years, and 34,000 deaths have been avoided," he said.

The President thanked WHO for its support over the years and said Kenya was committed to ensuring that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are achieved in the control of malaria, HIV/AIDS, maternal and child mortality and other preventable diseases.

In this regard, President Kibaki said, the Government had increased the Ministry of Health's budget from Sh18.3 billion in 2003 to Sh 34.3 billion in 2006-2007.

He, however, said there was need to train more staff and scale up the provision of medical services in the country.

KEMRI-Wellcome Research Programme in Kenya Trained on OpenClinica

KEMRI-Wellcome Research Programmer complete training to use OpenClinica in clinical research activities in Kenya.

(Kilifi, Kenya) July 5, 2007 - Akaza Research, the leading provider of OpenClinica clinical software, announces that it has completed a comprehensive onsite training for the KEMRI-Wellcome Research Programme for using the OpenClinica Enterprise platform for its clinical research activities in Kenya.

Every day more than 2500 people around the World die of malaria, most of them children. The Wellcome-KEMRI (Kenya Medical Research Institute) Research Programme is working to accelerate high-quality research towards effective treatments of malaria and other important infectious diseases.

About the KEMRI-Wellcome Research Programme

The KEMRI-Wellcome Research Programme is a collaboration between the UK-based Wellcome Trust and KEMRI (the Kenyan Medical Research Institute) to help safeguard the health of young African children. With a long-standing commitment to scientific capacity strengthening, it has established itself as an internationally renowned research centre tackling malaria and other important infectious diseases. The Programme is located at sites in Kilifi and in Kenya's capital Nairobi. For more information see http://www.kemri-wellcome.org.

About OpenClinica®

OpenClinica is an open source, web-based software platform for managing clinical research. It facilitates protocol configuration, design of case report forms, electronic data capture, and study/data management. OpenClinica supports HIPAA and 21 CFR Part 11 guidelines and is designed as a strictly standards-based, extensible, and modular platform. The current production release of OpenClinica is version 2.0.1. All versions of OpenClinica are available for download at www.OpenClinica.org.

About Akaza Research

Akaza Research, the leading provider of open source clinical trial software, is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Akaza has developed and commercialized OpenClinica, the preeminent open source clinical trial data collection and management software platform. Akaza brings Open Source Software solutions into the mainstream of the clinical research enterprise by making high quality, standards-based systems accessible for private and public research. Akaza Research provides support, training, and consulting services to its customers worldwide. See www.akazaresearch.com.

Kenya: 80 millions de dollars de la Banque mondiale

- La Banque mondiale a annoncé mercredi un crédit de 80 millions de dollars américains pour le Kenya destiné élargir les interventions ciblés contre le VIH/SIDA et de limiter l'impact de cette maladie. Dans un communiqué, la Banque mondiale souligne que ce projet, "Guerre totale contre le VIH/SIDA (TOWA), aiderait le Kenya à enrayer davantage la prévalence de la pandémie qui est passée de plus de 13 pour cent, en 2001, à environ six pour cent en 2005. L'un des volets de du projet sera le renforcement de la gestion du Conseil national de lutte contre le Sida (NACC), la principale agence de conception des stratégies et de supervision de l'exécution des programmes de lutte contre la maladie.

"Nous sommes confiants dans le fait qu'à travers ce soutien, les interventions communautaires contre le VIH/SIDA et celles ciblant les groupes vulnérables deviendront prioritaires", a déclaré le directeur exécutif du Consortium des ONG kenyanes contre le Sida (KANCO), Allan Ragi.

"Ce qui permettra au Kenya de réduire encore plus la progression du VIH/SIDA, d'améliorer la qualité de vie des personnes affectées et infectées et de limiter l'impact socio-économique de la pandémie au Kenya", a-t-il ajouté.

TOWA est le premier crédit de la Banque mondiale accordé au Kenya pour son programme de lutte contre le VIH/SIDA depuis l'approbation en décembre 2000 du projet de réaction kenyan à la catastrophe du VIH/SIDA (KHADREP).

Le KHADREP a aidé le Kenya à réaliser des progrès significatifs dans la lutte contre la pandémie, mais a également fait l'objet d'une mauvaise gestion de certains fonds du projet par des agents et des ONG avant sa fermeture en décembre 2005.

Le nouveau projet a été approuvé après que des mesures de redressement soient prises et suite à des consultations approfondies entre le gouvernement kenyan, la Banque mondiale et d'autres parties concernées sur les nouvelles structures organisationnelles et garanties au niveau du NACC.

"Cette décision du Conseil d'administration de la Banque mondiale de reprendre le financement du programme national de lutte contre le VIH/SIDA, à la suite des mesures de redressement, est en accord avec l'accent mis sur l'équité et la gouvernance dans le rapport d'étape sur les stratégies d'assistance envers les pays", a souligné le directeur de la Banque mondiale pour le Kenya, Colin Bruce.

"Nous sommes déterminés à ce que cette aide parvienne aux cinq millions de personnes au Kenya, particulièrement les orphelins et les jeunes femmes qui sont directement et indirectement affectés et rendus vulnérables par cette maladie", a-t-il ajouté.

La Banque mondiale a expliqué que l'exécution de ce projet serait surveillée étroitement pour s'assurer que le soutien parvienne aux groupes les plus exposés au VIH et au Sida et qu'il ait davantage d'impact grâce à une meilleure coordination des efforts des donateurs.

Par ailleurs, le Département britannique pour le développement international (DFID) devrait fournir 33 millions de dollars américain de financement supplémentaire à travers le projet TOWA.

"Nous sommes réellement satisfaits du soutien renouvelé de la Banque mondiale à la lutte contre le VIH/SIDA", a déclaré le représentant du DFID au Kenya, Simon Bland.

Bien que la prévalence du VIH au Kenya ait reculé récemment, les statistiques montrent qu'il y a 70.000 nouvelles infections chaque année.

"L'harmonisation de notre soutien avec la Banque mondiale est un changement important dans la manière dont nous finançons avec d'autres partenaires la lutte contre le VIH/SIDA sous la direction du NACC. Nous espérons qu'elle sera le point de départ d'une plus grande harmonisation des efforts de tous les partenaires au développement contre le VIH/SIDA", a ajouté M. Bland.


The World Bank has approved a credit of US$80 million for Kenya to expand the coverage of targeted HIV and AIDS interventions to prevent and mitigate the impact of the disease.

The Total War Against HIV and AIDS (TOWA) Project will assist Kenya to further reduce the prevalence of HIV/AIDS, which dropped from over 13 percent in 2001 to about 6 percent in 2005, by further strengthening the governance of the National AIDS Control Council (NACC)—the lead agency for designing strategies and overseeing the implementation of programs to control the pandemic. The programs include the use of grant funds by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) which will be subjected to rigorous and transparent processes of selection, implementation monitoring and performance. This approach includes greater community oversight and blacklisting of NGOs that do not perform.
Africa 2007

“We are confident that through this support, community HIV and AIDS priority issues and other interventions targeting vulnerable groups will be given precedence. This will enable Kenya to reduce further the spread of HIV and AIDS, improve the quality of life of those affected and infected, and mitigate the social-economic impact of the pandemic in Kenya”, says Allan Ragi, the Executive Director of the Kenya AIDS NGOs Consortium (KANCO).

The TOWA is the first credit from the World Bank to Kenya for HIV and AIDS since its approval in December 2000 of the US$50 million Kenya HIV and AIDS Disaster Response Project (KHADREP). KHADREP helped Kenya to achieve significant progress in the fight against the pandemic, but also experienced mismanagement of some project funds by some officials and NGOs; it closed in December 2005. The new project was approved after remedial action was taken, and following extensive consultations between the Kenyan Government, the World Bank, and other stakeholders on new organizational structures and safeguards within NACC.

The TOWA support will further enhance the governance in NACC. The measures include: (a) a results-oriented and performance-based award mechanism for grants; (b) the introduction of transparent decision-making processes with full dissemination of information; and (c) strengthened financial management and procurement capacity.

“This decision by the World Bank Board to resume funding the national HIV and AIDS program, following remedial action, is consistent with the emphasis on equity and governance in the recent Country Assistance Strategy Progress Report,” noted Colin Bruce, the Bank’s Country Director for Kenya. “We are determined that the support should reach the 5 million people in Kenya— especially orphans and young women—who are directly and indirectly affected and made very vulnerable by the disease.”

Implementation will be monitored closely to ensure that the support reaches the groups at high risk of contracting HIV and AIDS, and achieves greater impact through better coordination of donor efforts.

The British Department for International Development (DFID) is expected to provide US$33 million in additional financing through TOWA. “We are really pleased with the World Bank’s renewed support to HIV/AIDS”, says Simon Bland, Head of DFID in Kenya. “Although HIV prevalence has reduced recently, there are still up to 70,000 new infections each year and there is no reason for complacency. Harmonizing our support with the World Bank is an important change in the way we and others are funding HIV/AIDS under NACC’s leadership. We hope it will be the start of greater harmonization for all development partners for HIV/AIDS.”


For more information, please visit on the World Bank’s work in sub-Saharan Africa visit: www.worldbank.org/afr

For more information on the World Bank’s work in Kenya visit: www.worldbank.org/ke

For more information about this project visit: [http://web.worldbank.org/external/projects/main?pagePK=64283627&piPK=73230&theSi

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Kenya: Catholics Reaffirm Stand Against Condoms in Fighting HIV/Aids

Catholic Information Service for Africa (Nairobi)

Catholic Church has reiterated its opposition to the use of condoms in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Opening the first national Catholic conference on the pandemic in Nairobi, Bishop Philip Sulumeti of Kakamega Diocese, chairman of the Kenya Episcopal Conference's Commission for Health, said that the church is against the use of all forms of contraceptives.

"Even in the case of discordant couples (where one spouse is infected), those offering care should look at all the issues affecting the couple other than the sexual aspect. One of them will have to sacrifice for the sake of the other," he said.

Bishop Alfred Rotich of the Military Ordinariate said such couples may find themselves called to live the challenge of love in relation to sacrifice for the sake of the uninfected spouse and the children.

"While constantly renewing the universal teaching of the Church in this time of AIDS, we encourage the clergy, the religious and other pastoral agents to assist discordant and infected couples to form their consciences with regard to how they will live out their marital relationship, and make decisions that are life enhancing and faithful," he said.

Bishop Rotich also appealed to Christians to fight the "negative mentality" of stigma and discrimination. "Let's change and be prepared to embrace and welcome all those who find themselves infected without hesitation or reservation, and do whatever we can to help them live responsibly and positively," he said.

The Catholic conference, which opened on Monday and ends Thursday, is taking place at the Kenya Institute of Education (KIE).

In attendance are clergy, Catholic AIDS organizations, the church's development partners and government officials. The conference is organized around three thematic areas: prevention, care and Support, and orphans and vulnerable children.

Organizers said event is an also opportunity to review and celebrate twenty years of Catholic Church's HIV/AIDS apostolate in Kenya. On Thursday, the National Catholic AIDS Policy will be launched.

Le Kenya prend des mesures pour décongestionner ses prisons

Nairobi, 23/06 - Le Kenya va renforcer la peine non privative de liberté récemment introduite pour les personnes coupables d`une infraction mineure afin d`accélérer la décongestion des prisons, selon la PANA.

Dans un discours du vice-président Moody Awory lu, jeudi, par la secrétaire pour les Affaires intérieures, Nancy Kirui, il est souligné :"le surpeuplement des prisons restent le plus grand défi pour nous tous, et en réalité pour la plupart des pays africains".

Le vice-président a jugé "inhumaines" les conditions dans les prisons au Kenya, en révélant que les établissements pénitentiers prévus pour 16 500 détenus accueillaient aujourd`hui plus de 48 000 prisonniers.

"Cette situation a un impact négatif sur la gestion quotidienne des institutions correctionnelles. Ceci a également rendu inefficace le programme de réhabilitation du fait du nombre importants des pensionnaires" a déploré M. Awori.

D`après lui, ce surpeuplement s`est soldé par "un retard dans l`exercice de la justice, des contraintes budgétaires pour le gouvernement, l`insuffisance ou le manque total d`infrastructures de base, l`apparition d`épidémies à cause du manque d`hygiène".


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Importante hausse du budget kenyan

Le ministre kenyan des Finances, Amos Kimunya, a présenté jeudi le budget 2007/2008, d'un montant de 10 milliards de dollars américains, le plus important du pays depuis son indépendance, les dépenses du gouvernement étant passées de 1,5 à 8,5 milliards de dollars US. Les dépenses ordinaires ont aussi fait un bond, de 6,88 à 8,1 milliards de dollars, avec une enveloppe de 1,6 milliard prévue pour les projets de développement. Le ministre a indiqué que le budget avait été conçu pour "offrir une meilleure qualité de vie aux citoyens kenyans ordinaires", une part substantielle des crédits prévus par la nouvelle loi de Finances étant consacrée au développement des ressources humaines, par le biais de l'Education, qui a droit à un montant de 2 milliards de dollars, tandis que 1,7 milliard a été prévu pour le développement des Infrastructures.

Selon M. Kimunya, le gouvernement a aussi prévu des incitations pour promouvoir les secteurs de l'Agriculture et du Tourisme et, ainsi, accélérer la croissance économique, qui devrait, selon les projections, atteindre un taux de 7% lors du prochain exercice, ce qui marquerait une progression par rapport aux 6,5 pour cent actuels.

Ces incitations portent, notamment, sur la décision de supprimer 205 licences de commerce et d'en simplifier 371, pour rendre l'environnement des affaires plus compétitif et attractif pour les investisseurs étrangers, a promis le ministre.

Il a expliqué que: "le budget ambitionne de réduire, au sein de l'administration, cette bureaucratie qui freine l'accès à la propriété et aux services afin de la transformer en tapis rouge (pour les investisseurs)".

S'agissant du Tourisme, qui a permis au pays d'engranger des recettes totales de 802 millions de dollars US l'année dernière, pour 1,5 million de visiteurs, le ministre a déclaré que le Kenya deviendra "l'une des 10 principales destinations éloignées et haut de gamme du monde".

Il a expliqué que plus de 95% du budget seront financés par les recettes extérieures, qui devraient progresser de 5,6 milliards de dollars US, en 2006/2007, à 6,4 milliards.

De son point de vue, le déficit budgétaire d'un montant de 1,6 milliard de dollars sera financé par la privatisation des compagnies d'Etat, en particulier la Banque nationale du Kenya, Telkom Kenya, la société d'exploitation du réseau de téléphonie fixe et la compagnie kenyane de Réassurance.

Grâce aux placements initiaux de titres au niveau de la Bourse de Nairobi, la privatisation devrait permettre au gouvernement de récolter un milliard de dollars environ, tandis que 582 milliards seront mis à disposition par les donateurs.

Le ministre a également expliqué que les citoyens des pays voisins, la Tanzanie, l'Ouganda, le Rwanda et le Burundi, jouiront des mêmes opportunités que les Kenyans pour ce qui est des investissements au niveau de la Bourse de Nairobi.

Il a annoncé que 58 millions de dollars seront alloués aux fonds de création d'entreprise destinés aux femmes et aux jeunes, alors que l'assise financière des banques commerciales du Kenya passera des 300.000 dollars US actuels, à 1,4 million de dollars, "pour débarrasser l'industrie de sa masse critique d'inefficacité" et protéger les salariés à faibles revenues des effets de l'effondrement des banques.

By Juma Kwayera Correspondant de la PANA Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - 15/06/2007

Kenya: Health Sector in Notable Improvement

The Nation (Nairobi)
Mike Mwaniki

During the just ended financial year, the health sector realised some notable achievements, perhaps due to an increased budgetary allocation of Sh33.3 billion from Sh20.5 billion during 2006/2007.

For the first time in many years, for example, supply of drugs and other medical supplies to all dispensaries, health centres, district and provincial health facilities, has greatly improved under a revamped Kenya Medical Supplies Agency.

In the last two years, 4,000 additional health workers have been recruited by the ministry, using its resources and with some support from donors such as the Clinton Foundation among others.

However, Health assistant minister Wilfred Machage, says, despite the hiring of workers the shortage of medical staff stands at about 10,000.

In a controversial move made last year, the Ministry of Health abolished automatic job offers for new doctors, setting the alarm bells ringing, with the Kenya Medical Association calling for a review.

The move, the association argued, would compromise state programmes on child survival, maternal health, HIV and Aids and malaria.

A recent status report on Government's efforts towards meeting Millennium Development Goals, for example, admits that great efforts are needed to stem the continued increase in mortality rates, that has been taking place since the 1990s, in all parts of Kenya.

"There are wide geographical disparities in access to medical services, while the cost of health care is high, especially for the poor," it says.

The report adds that ensuring a critical mass of human resource with skills to manage childhood illness is a big challenge to the Government.

Currently, there are about 5,000 doctors for the fast growing population, now estimated at 32 million.

This translates to about one doctor for 6,000 Kenyans, which is far below the World Health Organisation recommendation of one doctor for 1,000 people.

Early this year, President Kibaki announced the release of Sh3.5 billion to boost the provision of health care.

Of this amount, Sh1.8 billion went towards equipping all health centres and dispensaries across the country.

Delivery kits

Each of the institutions, the President added, would be supplied with diagnostic equipment, including blood pressure machines and delivery kits.

Another Sh1 billion was for rehabilitation of health facilities, while the Government would inject more than Sh500 million annually to support procurement of reproductive health facilities and vaccines.

Each dispensary and health centre countrywide was allocated Sh180,000 and Sh240,000 respectively, for rehabilitation.

Health minister Charity Ngilu also ensured that access to treatment in public health facilities was more affordable, especially for the poor, when she announced that treatment in health centres would cost Sh20 and Sh10 in dispensaries.

On HIV and Aids, even critics agree that the Government has its priorities right. About 120,000 people who need life-prolonging anti-retrovirals (ARVs) are on treatment.

The biggest challenge, however, is how to care for 1.2 million children orphaned by the pandemic.

Mrs Ngilu suffered an early setback when her fight for a mandatory national health insurance scheme was blocked, following widespread condemnation by big businesses and private health insurance providers.

Despite Parliament passing the controversial Sh40 billion National Social Health Insurance Bill, President Kibaki declined to assent to the Bill, saying the scheme was unsustainable, and sent it back to Parliament for amendment.

But Mrs Ngilu seems to have had the last laugh on the matter, after the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), a parastatal under her ministry, widened its cover.

Following the move, it is now possible for about five million people to be treated for all illnesses, including Aids and cancer, in 380 hospitals and clinics in the country at minimal cost.

Health cover under NHIF is also available for people in informal employment and generally every Kenyan who meets the modest membership fee.

Platitudes won't end child labour

Story by DOROTHY KWEYU

TOMORROW IS THE WORLD Day Against Child Labour, and child rights activists will be mouthing platitudes on the evils of child labour as their counterparts in Government threaten dire consequences for those who would exploit the little ones.

Since 2002 when the International Labour Organisation (ILO) initiated the day that is marked every June 12 to harness commitment, motivation and inter-agency collaboration to rid the world of the worst forms of child labour, the day has been observed under different themes.

This year’s global theme is agriculture-related, and in Kenya, it has been adapted to “Children in the Present, Farmers in the Future, Stop Exploitative Child Labour in Agriculture”. Two-thirds of 1.9 million children engaged in hazardous labour in Kenya are in agriculture.

In the countdown to tomorrow’s celebrations, the Association of Media Women in Kenya (Amwik) hosted an editors’ forum that brought together panellists from various agencies .

They came from the ministries of Agriculture, Home Affairs (which hosts the Children’s Department) and Labour, as well as ILO and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nation.

While most panellists singled out poverty as the root cause of widespread child labour, it was surprising that most fell into the rightist trap and blamed child labour on failure to enforce the plethora of laws that proscribe the practice.

Proposals aimed at striking at the root causes of poverty were ‘by the way’, with most suggestions to address the problem leaning heavily towards the need to punish parents and employers of children engaged in labour. The forum turned into a platform for listing international instruments and domestic laws that are in place, and whose failure to enforce is to blame for the plight of these children.

Children as young as five years are engaged in coffee picking in Kiambu and they have no qualms about it. Most say they have to work to beef up family income for food and even rent.

Even those who have been ‘rescued’ and taken to school by child rights NGOs find themselves in a Catch 22 situation, where they must engage in some form of paid work for their own survival. A child who was asked if he knew it was wrong for him to be picking coffee said it was coffee-picking that sustained his family and he would continue picking coffee as long as he had no better options.

The situation is worse for pupils who complete primary but have no fees to proceed to high school. Amwik profiles quite a number of such children, who end up repeating classes even three times.

It is instructive that many children flocked to schools in response to the government’s free primary education programme, many had drifted back to work, thanks to the dictates of survival and the non-fee expenses that parents and guardians must still pay.

During the editors’ forum, an assistant director for children’s services quoting the Children’s Act of 2001, said engaging any person below 18 years in work was “a serious violation of children’s rights”.

The laws fly in the face of socio-economic realities, and unless concrete steps are taken to ensure their basic survival, the children, many of them orphan heads of households will continue to engage in hazardous work.

Army medics and engineers make their mark in Kenya

9. June 2007

A team of British Army medics supported by engineers and specialist drivers are helping to improve the lives of villagers living in some of the most remote areas of Kenya.The medics are doing their bit to try and eradicate childhood diseases by running an immunisation programme for thousands of Kenyans living in remote and inaccessible communities.

The immunisation programme, part of a much wider scheme which also includes building wells to help prevent the spread of water-borne diseases, is carried out every year by the British Army. The delivery of this vital medical treatment is run with the co-operation of the Kenyan Ministry of Health, the Kenyan Army and the Kenyan Expanded Programme for Immunisation and Samburu Aid in Africa.

This year soldiers from 19 Squadron, 16 Close Support Medical Regiment, based in Colchester, are visiting 24 villages and two clinics in the districts of Oldinyo Isiola and Sambura. However, this is often difficult with the personnel having to drive down elephant tracks and dried river beds, so accessing these

In some places the roads are not even shown on the maps. At best they could be described as dirt tracks, made up of sand, rocks and huge boulders. With the occasional fallen tree in the path of the vehicles, the drivers are certainly gaining valuable experience that they would not get back in the UK.

This experience has included carrying out a river crossing, an exercise which saw one of the vehicles having to be pulled out of the river using the Squadron’s recovery vehicle, much to the amusement of the local villagers. Within minutes news had spread to the surrounding villages that the Landrover and trailer were stuck in the river. Around 50 people emerged to sit on the riverbanks so as not to miss the entertainment of the soldiers pulling the vehicle out.

Officer Commanding 16 Close Support Medical Regiment, Major Simon Nadin, added: “This exercise benefits both ourselves and the people we are treating. Our medics are getting valuable training experience in a harsh environment and the local people are receiving free medical treatment. We have four teams on the ground including a Headquarter section, all based in different areas treating up to 400 patients a day. We are immunising the young against childhood diseases such as polio, measles and mumps, whilst out dentists are seeing up to 200 people a day. This exercise benefits both ourselves and the people we are treating. Our medics are getting valuable training experience in a harsh environment and the local people are receiving free medical treatment. It is giving us all tremendous satisfaction and a great sense of achievement to be able to come to Kenya and help the local communities in a bid to keep the spread of disease under control.”

But it’s not just the two-legged humans that are receiving treatment. Army vet, Captain Cees Bennett, has been busy treating a variety of four-legged friends, mainly goats and donkeys. “I treated 8,000 animals at our first location; Ol Doinyo,” explained Capt Bennett. “It’s mainly worming and de-parasiting the herds. That was a busy two days; I see on average around 4,000 animals at each location, mainly cattle, goats, camels and sheep. It seemed that the herdsmen were more concerned about their animals than they were for themselves.”

The main problems for Captain Bennett include dealing with festering wounds, blackquarter and long term coughs: “It’s tiring work, but I enjoy it. All the animals are very well cared for, they are obviously treated well. It’s just been a great experience.”

And whilst the Army medics are busy vaccinating and treating patients a team of British Army engineers from 521 Specialist trained Royal Engineer (STRE) (Water Development (WD)), part of 170 (Infrastructure Support) Engineer Group, are drilling three wells up to 70 metres deep. Capable of providing 7,000 litres of water an hour, the wells will provide an easily accessible water supply to the local people living on the training area and for the British and Kenyan Armies who train on the area.

With each borehole drilled Army engineers will fit the mechanical workings of the well. Once the well components are in place a series of pipes will be installed allowing compressed air to be pumped down the well, which in turn will bring up the dirty water and debris until it runs clear. These pipes will then be removed and the final working components installed.

Staff Sergeant Higgins, from the Water Development team, said: “Once the water runs clear the pipes will be removed and the final working components will be installed. A concrete plinth will seal the top of the well over the surface to prevent any contaminates falling in. This is a great job to be involved in. We have been made to feel very welcome. Not only will it benefit our own soldiers when they are training but also the local community. All the lads are enjoying the work; it is good training for them. The wells will provide water for up to 15 years. We look forward to coming back to check that the wells are still working properly and to see for ourselves how it is benefiting the local communities.”

United Nations World Food Programme (Rome)

4 Juin 2007

Le programme alimentaire mondial des Nations Unies (PAM) a remercié mardi le gouvernement des États-Unis pour leurs 32,4 millions de dollars de don en mai afin d'apporter de l'aide alimentaire aux personnes confrontées à des situations humanitaires critiques, allant des grandes sécheresses aux conflits au Kenya, au Tchad, en République Centrafricaine, en République Démocratique du Congo, au Zimbabwe et en Colombie.

Un donateur très généreux

Ce dernier don, de la part du Bureau pour la Nourriture et la Paix de l'Agence américaine pour le Développement International (USAID), porte le total des contributions américaines aux opérations du PAM à 670 millions de dollars pour cette année. Les États-Unis sont ainsi le donateur le plus généreux pour le PAM.

Les États-Unis ont une nouvelle fois, comme régulièrement, fait un geste envers les plus démunis dans six pays qui affrontent des défis humanitaires de première plan


Pour le Kenya

La sécheresse récurrente contribue également à la situation d'urgence alimentaire dans les régions pastorales arides du Kenya. Les États-Unis font don de 5,3 millions de dollars aux Kényans, qui essayent toujours de se remettre de la perte de leur bétail due au manque de pluies et à l'origine d'une crise majeure en 2006 causant d'importantes pénuries alimentaires.


Photo : enfant Samburu en periode de secheresse, ou le manque de nourriture se fait cruellement sentir.