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Articles by Thumbi Mwangi
Kenya: Covid and Health Workers' Strike - How Kenya's Health Services Coped in Times of Crisis
Kenya: Covid and Health Workers' Strike - How Kenya's Health Services Coped in Times of Crisis analysis By Mutono Nyamai, Loice Achieng Ombajo, Marleen Temmerman and Thumbi Mwangi When epidemics break out and public health emergencies are declared, people shy away from seeking care for other conditions. This may seem counter-intuitive at first glance. But it makes sense. Ordinary life is disrupted, so visiting a clinic for a routine checkup becomes harder.
how Kenya's health services coped in times of crisis
When epidemics break out and public health emergencies are declared, people shy away from seeking care for other conditions. This may seem counter-intuitive at first glance. But it makes sense. Ordinary life is disrupted, so visiting a clinic for a routine checkup becomes harder. People are afraid they’ll contract the virus or disease that’s driving the epidemic – especially in health facilities. The results are predictably grim.
People will continue to die of rabies if Kenya doesn't educate healthcare workers
Rabies – a viral disease spread through an animal bite – has had an effective vaccine for more than a century. Yet people continue to die from it. Rabies kills nearly every known person that shows clinical signs of it, making it arguably one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases. Africa accounts for 36.4% of the 59,000 rabies deaths in humans annually. In Kenya, rabies is endemic and has been estimated to cause 2,000 deaths annually.
A deep data dive reveals extent of unequal water provision in Nairobi
January 31, 2022 By, Mutono Nyamai, Henry Mutembei, James Wright & Thumbi Mwangi. Many African cities struggle to supply safe, potable water to their residents. One of the main reasons for this is urbanisation; cities’ populations grow rapidly as more people move to them from rural areas. Another reason, in some regions, is water scarcity. Researchers have long suspected that informal urban neighbourhoods are lagging behind their formal counterparts when it comes to accessing safe drinking water.
A deep data dive reveals extent of unequal water provision in Nairobi
Many African cities struggle to supply safe, potable water to their residents. One of the main reasons for this is urbanisation; cities’ populations grow rapidly as more people move to them from rural areas. Another reason, in some regions, is water scarcity. Researchers have long suspected that informal urban neighbourhoods are lagging behind their formal counterparts when it comes to accessing safe drinking water.
Kenya: How to End Human Deaths From Rabies - Lessons From Kenya
analysis By Thumbi Mwangi, Washington State UniversityWhen a person hears about rabies, it's often not thought of as an immediate personal threat. But rabies kills about 60,000 people every year - the majority of deaths are in Africa and Asia. Rabies is a viral disease transmitted to humans through bites from rabid animals. The virus infects the central nervous system ending in the brain, at which point death is inevitable.
How to end human deaths from rabies: lessons from Kenya
When a person hears about rabies, it’s often not thought of as an immediate personal threat. But rabies kills about 60,000 people every year – the majority of deaths are in Africa and Asia. Rabies is a viral disease transmitted to humans through bites from rabid animals. The virus infects the central nervous system ending in the brain, at which point death is inevitable.
African academics set out what Dr Tedros needs in his toolbox to tackle health ills
Africa has the highest burden of HIV/Aids and malaria with escalating rates of non-communicable diseases. How will the World Health Organisation’s Director-General Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus deal with the mounting challenges? The Conversation Africa asked academics across the continent what impact his appointment will have, and for advice on what he needs to do, to manage the challenges. What is the significance of his appointment?
Kenya: Here's How to Prevent Another Anthrax Outbreak in Kenya
analysis By Thumbi Mwangi, Washington State UniversityMeat lovers in Thika, north east of Nairobi, are worried. In just one week, eight licensed people who load meat for sale into vans were hospitalised with symptoms similar to anthrax. They were later discharged, but the story is a sobering reminder of what anthrax and other zoonotic diseases - those passed from animals to humans - can do.
Here's how to prevent another anthrax outbreak in Kenya
Meat lovers in Thika, north east of Nairobi, are worried. In just one week, eight licensed people who load meat for sale into vans were hospitalised with symptoms similar to anthrax. They were later discharged, but the story is a sobering reminder of what anthrax and other zoonotic diseases – those passed from animals to humans – can do.
News of research funding is welcome
The Kenya National Research Fund recently called for proposals in perhaps one of the most reassuring indications that the country is on the right track in solving some of its most pressing problems. The world over, investment in research and innovation is regarded as a catalyst for growth and improvement of human opportunity. I think this is likely to be a game charger in the academic and research circles.
MWANGI: News of research funding welcome
Whereas the priorities set by these donor funds have sometimes mirrored the aspirations of Kenyans, this does not always hold true. To fill this gap, Kenyan researchers, like many of their counterparts in most of Africa, have turned to the West, mainly working as collaborators and rarely as principal applicants, to compete for grants funded either by private foundations or from the research budgets of other governments.
Better livestock policies in Africa offer a pathway out of poverty
A majority of rural households in Africa keep different livestock species. But only a small proportion can afford to keep good quality livestock. This is mainly due to a combination of low government funding and the poor policies of external funders. Those that do have livestock are faced with the challenges of infectious disease and ill-conceived breeding programmes. This means that they rarely achieve optimum production to meet their household’s economic and nutritional needs.
We must tackle our neglected diseases
We have always known that some animal diseases can jump species and infect man, but the current figures are startling. Today we know that over 60 per cent of all pathogens that infect humans have their origins in animals, and that the figure rises to 75 per cent for emerging diseases. The worry is that once diseases such as Ebola, Zika, swine and avian flu have jumped from animals to humans, they will spread quickly between people.
Kenya should step up her bioterrorism surveillance
Earlier last week, Kenyan security agencies announced that they had successfully foiled a plan by a group of medical interns to unleash a biological terror attack using anthrax bacteria as a weapon against Kenyans. The details made public are scanty. Other than the indication that the suspected terrorists have medical training, there is little to suggest whether or not they had access to the bacteria. Or whether they had the capacity, facilities or specialised knowledge of growing the bacteria.
Kenya takes lead in keeping deadly rabies at bay in Africa
As the world marked this year’s World Rabies Day, celebrated on September 28, every year, Kenya launched her “Strategy for the Elimination of Human Rabies by 2030”, effectively making her the first African country to embark on a journey to realising Louis Pasteur’s (famous for inventing vaccines against rabies and anthrax, and milk preservation through pasteurisation) 129 year-old vision of ridding the world of the deadly rabies disease.
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