13 Mar 2008 
With the gradual return of peace across Kenya, the AMREF clinic in the heart of the sprawling Kibera slums has in February recorded an over 400% increase in patient numbers over the previous month as patients can now freely access the facility.
Patients trooping to the Kibera Community Based Health Centre are on the rise as calm returns to the Nairobi city slum that was severely ravaged by the post-election violence that erupted across the country.
In particular, People Living with HIV/AIDS as well as TB patients who shunned the AMREF clinic owing to insecurity and fear of attack are now trickling back for drugs and counselling/therapy services.
“The situation is improving in terms of the usage of the facility and more people are now coming to the clinic for treatment and to get refills for their ARVs,” AMREF’s Peter Nasokho remarked.
Yesterday, Mr Nasokho echoed the words in the lips of many AMREF staff at the clinic saying, “In the beginning of January, people were not sure of their safety, but because of the calm, those who earlier felt threatened now feel safe moving across the slums.”
Following the release of the disputed Presidential Election results in December, Kenya sunk into a wave of bloodletting and ethnic violence in the New Year that saw more than 1,500 people killed and another 600,000 displaced. The latter has since gone down as people resettle in the ancestral homes or localities dominated by their own ethnic or politically friendly communities.
Records at the AMREF Kibera clinic indicate that from the general outpatient department, a total of 374 patients (children and adults) visited the centre in January while those who sought medication there last month rose to 1,259.
In January this year, of the 447 scheduled appointments for ARV follow-ups, 42 per cent missed out compared to a paltry 6 per cent who missed out in November last year and 14 per cent during the same period of January 2007. Mr Nasokho said 132 clients called on the AMREF Anti-Retroviral Therapy clinic last month.
But the peace negotiations that saw a peace deal eventually signed between protagonists - Kenya’s President Mwai Kibaki and Orange Democratic Party leader Raila Odinga - on February 28 saw a return of hope as well as gradual normalcy across Kibera and the rest of the country.
Now, Kibera residents can crisscross the various villages in the slum with a degree of confidence. However, some remain displaced out of the slum while others have adopted a “wait and see” attitude before they engage in their “normal” or pre-election activities.
For further information please contact: Betty Muriuki – AMREF Writing Manager, on +254 20 6993327, Cell: +254 726 261495, email: betty.muriuki@amref.org |
