admin_county February 14, 2020

Nakuru health workers trained on influenza surveillance

Some 189 health workers have been trained on influenza surveillance in a partnership between the County Government of Nakuru, Center for Disease Control and the Washington State University Global Health Program – Kenya.

This comes at a time the national government and the region are on a high alert over deadly coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Wuhan, Hubei Province in China. The virus has since spread to other parts of the world.

Influenza is a highly infectious viral disease that affects the human respiratory tract. So far, thousands of patients have died and over 1,700 frontline medics infected with coronavirus in China alone.

County Executive Committee Member for Health Dr Gichuki Kariuki said the County government has activated all major health facilities in Nakuru County.

He said the virus remains a major challenge to governments and the training will see all health workers in Nakuru County equipped with skills to handle and treat patients as well as prevent themselves against the virus.

In addition to the training, isolation wards have been set aside and health workers supplied with personal protective equipment. The Health Department is also working with neighbouring Counties to scale up surveillance at entry points.

Nakuru Public Health Officer Dr Elizabeth Kiptoo asked members of the public to report and immediately seek medical attention on experiencing flu-like symptoms that worsen to fever, coughing, and shortness of breath.

Dr Peter Kinuthia, a surveillance officer at CDC emphasized on the need for regular cleaning of hands with detergents, an exercise he said has been medically proved to break the pathogen transmission chain.