Kenya moves against malaria outbreak

No-one knows why the outbreak has proven so deadly

By the BBC's Cathy Jenkins In Nairobi

The Red Cross in Kenya has mobilised 1,000 volunteers to help cope with an outbreak of malaria, which has killed nearly 300 people.

The outbreak has affected eight districts in the Rift Valley and the west of the country and follows a period of very heavy rains.

The Red Cross says that more than 150,000 people have contracted malaria since June.

Young and old alike have been affected, with the death toll standing at 298.

Inadequate facilities

Most of those who have died have simply been unable to reach a hospital quickly enough to get treatment.

The 1,000 volunteers who had just finished helping with a nationwide measles vaccination campaign have been remobilised to assist in the distribution of mosquito nets to villagers, and anti-malaria pills to hospitals.

The area affected stretches from the Rift Valley in central Kenya to the agricultural and tea-growing areas of the west.

The outbreak follows several weeks of very heavy rains, but quite why it has turned so deadly is not really known.

Government criticised

Red Cross official Andrei Neacsu said the situation had appeared to be under control until a month ago, when the death toll suddenly started to rise.

He said the next two weeks would be crucial in getting the situation under control.

The Red Cross in Kenya has an ongoing programme to alert people to the dangers of malaria and how to prevent it.

But the head of the Kenyan Medical Research Institute, Doctor Davy Koech criticised government health officials for being caught unprepared.

He was quoted as saying that the outbreak of malaria was predictable and preventable, and that it was a matter for shame that an increasing number of people were dying of the disease.