Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2008. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Mail & Guardian Online - April 30, 2008
Bare life: Harsh living conditions and the onset of the cold rainy season in Kenya are making it increasingly difficult for HIV-positive people displaced in the recent post-election violence to stay healthy, according to health workers in the camps. "The main difficulty is getting a good, balanced diet," said Ancilla Kemunto, a government community healthcare worker at the largest camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) in the Rift Valley town of Nakuru. "Although they, like other IDPs, get the World Food Programme rations, these are not nutritious or large enough to keep them healthy."
The situation is all the more worrying given Kenya's looming food crisis after a poor rainy season between October and December, and the impact of the post-election crisis on agriculture, in which tens of thousands of farmers, casual labourers and food traders were displaced. Kemunto added that as the second rainy season sets in, from April to mid-May, many IDPs living in tarpaulin tents are sleeping under thin blankets on reed mats, putting those with HIV in particular danger of contracting pneumonia. "We need basic necessities like soap -- we get regular skin infections without it," said Loyce Wambui, speaking on behalf of a group of HIV-positive IDPs in Nakuru. "Many of us get frequent diarrhoea and have no toilet tissue. As for children, it is much harder to keep them healthy in the cold and rain." According to Kemunto, people known to be infected with TB continue to share overcrowded tents with their families. "The risk of infecting others in the same family is so high because it is usually one five-person family per tent."
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