AfricaPress-Kenya: Nearly one hundred residents in Kagwatatuk, Alale ward, in Pokot North sub-county, were rushed to hospital after they ate infected food at a festival on Monday, March 22.
The villagers were reported to have consumed untreated camel meat. The area Assistant Chief, Faustino Longora, said that the location was prone to hunger, adding that residents lacked food and water.
“They lacked vegetables and thought the dead camel would save the day. Some fainted as we rushed them to the dispensary,” Longora confirmed, raising alarm that some individuals had declined to seek treatment.
Doctors at the village were forced to construct a makeshift hospital outside Alale Dispensary, where the residents were attended to. Most of the sick were put under intravenous drips.
Eunice Lorete, a nurse, told the Standard, that the villagers complained of fever, diarrhoea, vomiting, body aches and headaches.
“Most of the affected are the elderly and children,” Lorete said.
In March 2021, a survey by the Global Hunger Index of 2020 revealed that Kenya’s hunger level was critical. The index noted that Kenya scored 23.7 and was ranked 84 0ut of 107 countries.
Kenya’s level of hunger score is above the global average of 18.2 as it ranked behind other African countries including Algeria, Egypt, South Africa, Ghana, Senegal, Gambia, Gabon, Namibia, and Cameroon.
The United Nations, in August 2020, had estimated that Kenya will have approximately 3.5 million severely food insecure people in the months succeeding July 2020.
As per the date of its release, approximately 1 million Kenyans were already sleeping hungry. UN said that Kenyans were largely affected by the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
