Covid-19 Mitigation in Kibera slum
The Covid-19 pandemic is a threat to world population. Kibera is one of the largest and overcrowded slums in Africa south of Sahara with a population close to 1 million, with inhabitants of 80,000 per km 2, occupying and area of about 8 ½ km 2 . This truly means that Kibera is overcrowded, posing danger in attracting the disease which is mainly transmitted through contacts.
Already, the number of those infected is increasing everyday in Nairobi. People living here are low income group; characterized by a large number of orphans, widows, widowers, and of course vulnerable children.
No economic activities are going on since most companies have closed due to the disease. The slum community is going hungry! Moreover, many people are ignorant about Covid-19 disease!
Health measures taken by the government like quarantine, curfew, lockdown and testing are seen more by the slum dwellers like security mission rather than health governance issue. This has been exacerbated by deployment of force rather than civic education to the public. Whereas Covid-19 is a health crisis, it has severe social, economic and financial consequences to the livelihoods, more so to the poor; incomes and jobs to people have been negatively affected while the government has not offered an appropriate plan to this shock.
Again militarization of Covid-19 in policing health guidelines has driven away most people here in Kibera, just like the rest of the country, from cooperation and partnering with the government. Residents view government action as an aim to isolate them to die of hunger rather than to control the spread of the disease!
No comprehensive response strategy and proactive forward planning for the disease partly due to national stress on meager financial resource and huge budget involved on the disease, or finds itself in-between sensitivity of, and attention for other disasters like floods, landslides and locusts invasion, which continue to cause loss of lives and negatively affecting food production in the country.
There is thus a need to support local organizations whose presence have been felt for sometimes and have first-hand knowledge and information about many households like KISCODEP.
Due to the foregoing, our organization dearly needs your support to continue doing the following:
1. Undertake door-to door civic education about the disease, targeting 50,000 households at risk and vulnerable persons within 30 days. This is to increase understanding about the disease as per the WHO guidelines to better understand the transmission, risk factors and source of infections as well as how to protect themselves and others, especially the vulnerable and those at higher risk.
2. Avail buckets, taps, hand-washing soaps, sanitizers, face masks and other preventive equipment to selected vulnerable members of the community, identifying strategic areas for hand-washing stations e.g. bus terminus, entry points around shanties, community toilets, social centres
etc.
3. Provide food to the children’s homes in the community and 1,000 vulnerable households. The food includes maize flour, wheat flour, sugar, cooking oil, salt, milk, baby porridge, beverages etc.
4. Provide health care items like sanitary pads, baby diapers, toothpaste, water guard, petroleum jelly
match box etc.
