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NAIROBI, Kenya
A healthy environment is integral to a healthy economy. As part of ensuring our environment remains a strong part of the economy, the Cabinet Secretary for Health (CS), Dr. Cleopa Mailu launched the Kenya Environmental Sanitation and Hygiene Policy (KESHP) and the Strategic Framework, on 18May 2016, to provide universal access to improved sanitation, as envisaged in the Constitution.
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The CS also launched the Prototype
County Environmental Health and Sanitation Bill, and the National ODF
Kenya 2020 Campaign Framework.
The national policy and the
strategic framework are aligned to the Sustainable Development Goal
Number 6 on ensuring access to sanitation services and sustainable
management of water and sanitation for all by 2030 while building on the
progress and lessons learnt from the Millennium Development Goals.
These documents spell out key
measures necessary to achieve sustained sanitation and hygiene service
delivery in Kenya, including the elimination of open defecation by 2020.
The Open Defecation Free Campaign was
initiated in 2007, and so far 3,369 out of 63,993 villages have been
declared Open Defecation Free (ODF) and the Ministry hopes to reach all
villages by 2020, the Director of Public Health, Dr. Kepha Ombacho, has
said.
The Director said the objective of
KESHP is to increase the proportion of the population with access to
improved sanitation to 100 percent by 2030 and ensure a clean and
healthy environment for all in Kenya.
Currently, the ministry is focusing on eight strategic areas to achieve the sanitation goal, he elaborates.
“scaling up access to improved rural
and urban sanitation, assuring clean and healthy environment free from
public nuisances, fostering private sector participation and investment
in sanitation, building governance and leadership capacity for
sanitation and sustainable financing and investment for sanitation.’’
Other areas are building enabling
legal and regulatory environment, establishing an effective research and
development framework for sanitation and strengthening monitoring and
evaluation systems for the sanitation sector.
Dr. Ombacho has affirmed that the
policy documents have been distributed to 42 out of the 47 counties and
content has been shared with County Executive Committee Members for
Health and the Chairpersons of the County assembly health committees.
‘’Dissemination meetings have been
held with civil Society and three regional meetings have been scheduled
with county health representatives to discuss the implementation
plans,’’ Dr. Ombacho disclosed.
The Ministry together with
stakeholders in the WASH sector is currently in the process of
developing a popular version of the four documents. This are abridged
versions of the documents that will be distributed to members of the
public. The Ministry is also working on a Sanitation Bill that will be
presented to the Cabinet and later to parliament.
The Kenya Environmental Sanitation
and Hygiene Policy and the strategic framework are in line with the
Government’s commitment to provide excellent, high quality healthcare to
all Kenyans.
Sanitation underpins a range of
human rights and social, economic and cultural freedoms which includes
the right to a clean and healthy environment; the right to the highest
attainable standard of health; the right to accessible and adequate
housing, food of acceptable quality, clean and safe water of adequate
quantity; the right to education; the right to life; the right to
equality; the right to privacy; and the right to human dignity.
The Director of Public Health said
the Ministry of Health is committed to keeping people safe from
environmental hazards and is working to promote a healthy environment.
‘’Your environment is everything
around you—the air you breathe, the water you drink, the places where
your food is grown or prepared, your workplace, and your home. When your
environment is safe and healthy, you are more likely to stay healthy,’’
he stresses.
Environmental sanitation envisages
promotion of health of the community by providing clean environment and
breaking the cycle of disease. It depends on various factors that
include hygiene status of the people, types of resources available,
innovative and appropriate technologies according to the requirement of
the community, socioeconomic development of the country, cultural
factors related to environmental sanitation, political commitment,
capacity building of the concerned sectors, social factors including
behavioral pattern of the community, legislative measures adopted, and
others.
In collaboration with key
stakeholders, the Ministry is set to build a progressive, responsive and
sustainable technologically-driven, evidence-based and client-centered
health system for accelerated attainment of the highest standard of
health to all Kenyans.
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