Lack of Food Remains Priority for Desperate Kibera Population – International Medical Corps Provides Health Services; Targeted Nutritional Support

Nairobi, Kenya – In the first three days of free health services provided by International Medical Corps (IMC) more than 900 people from Kibera received treatment and medication. Many of their ailments are directly related to the post election violence that took place after disputed results were announced on December 30.

Photo: Natalia Cieslik

Hundreds of people in line at the IMC clinic in Kibera for free medical assistance on its first day of operation.

The population of Kibera, the vast Nairobi slum with more than 700,000 residents, has been hard hit by politically motivated fighting and the random brutality of criminal gangs. The majority of households are run by single mothers who survive on casual labor but have not been able to work for weeks.

Most patients coming to see International Medical Corps health workers are women and children who have been ill for several days. Many suffer from diarrhea because there is no clean water in the slum. IMC also saw numerous cases of upper respiratory tract infections in patients who have lost their homes and are now sleeping outside. Some presented with septic wounds from injuries sustained during the violence. Stress related symptoms like ulcers and headaches are high among people who live in areas of the slum that are controlled by gangs.

“People not only have medical problems,” says Jane Bauni IMC clinical officer and nurse, “the main problem remains the lack of food. People in Kibera are desperate and cannot afford to buy food.”

International Medical Corps has received private donations to support its emergency response in Kenya and is providing targeted nutritional support to

Photo: Natalia Cieslik

A young patient at the IMC clinic in Kibera.

TB and HIV patients in Kibera. Treatment for these infectious diseases is most effective when taken with food.

Until International Medical Corps opened its temporary clinic most patients were not able to seek medical help because the tense atmosphere in the slum prevented them from leaving their homes. Many others could not afford the 20 Kenyan Shillings, about 30 US cents, they are charged in the government clinic.

Ann Ako’s house was burned down during the violence and she now sleeps with her three children in a Kibera church yard. She is coughing and has chest pain and all of her children are suffering from diarrhea, cough or both. “The worst is that we don’t have any water where we are staying now. We sometimes walk 5 kilometers [about three miles] to get some,” Ann Ako says.

International Medical Corps has worked in Kibera for years, treating TB patients and assisting HIV positive mothers. It is one of the first agencies to provide basic health services to the extremely poor slum population that has been held in a grip of lawlessness, violence, and crime since the election – the reason why many humanitarian NGOs struggle to deliver services here.

Kibera residents fear that the tensions might flare up again if the current political deadlock is not solved soon. “If we see new fighting, this would be a further setback to the health of Kibera’s people, especially women and children,” says Peter McOdida, IMC country director Kenya.

International Medical Corps will continue current mobile clinic services and is planning an expansion to deliver additional health services further inside Kibera later this week, including areas that have currently been off limits to NGOs due to the persisting insecurity.