Author(s)

Michael Habtu^1*, Mark Nanyingi¹, Ali A. Hassan², Abdiwahid M. Noor¹, Joel Mutyandia Muli³, Alan Mwika¹, Julius Wekesa¹, Ahmed Fidhow¹, Diba Dulacha¹, Landry Kabego⁴, Ishata Nannie Conteh⁴, Andre Arsene Bita Fouda⁴, Sonia Chene⁵, Aden H. Ibrahim², Ahmed Nadhir Omar², Martins C. Livinus¹, Abdourahmane Diallo¹

¹World Health Organization, Nairobi, Kenya.
²Department of Health, Garissa County Government, Garissa, Kenya.
³Water Resources Authority, Garissa, Kenya.
⁴World Health Organization, Regional Office for Africa, Brazzaville, Congo.
⁵Regional Agency for Health, Dijon, France.

A multi-faceted Case Area Targeted Intervention (CATI) approach emphasizing the integration of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) interventions and Oral Cholera Vaccine (OCV) campaign was employed to respond to the outbreak of cholera in Garissa County. Drinking water sources in areas heavily impacted by cholera were systematically mapped and tested for microbiological quality. The quality assessment was carried out in April 2023 during an ongoing cholera outbreak in the county. A total of 109 samples were collected and tested for thermotolerant coliforms and other in situ parameters. The finding revealed that more than 87% of the samples did not meet the World Health Organization (WHO) standard for thermotolerant coliforms; and 30% had turbidity values above the recommended threshold values. None of the 109 samples had any traceable residual chlorine. Following these findings, the county government implemented the targeted interventions which resulted in a positive impact in the fight against cholera. The WHO supported key interventions which included capacity building in water quality monitoring and prepositioning of critical WASH commodities to the cholera affected areas.

Cholera, Drinking Water, Household Water Treatment, Kenya

Habtu, M. , Nanyingi, M. , Hassan, A. , Noor, A. , Muli, J. , Mwika, A. , Wekesa, J. , Fidhow, A. , Dulacha, D. , Kabego, L. , Conteh, I. , Fouda, A. , Chene, S. , Ibrahim, A. , Omar, A. , Livinus, M. and Diallo, A. (2024) Collaborative Efforts and Strategies for Cholera Outbreak Control in Garissa County, Kenya: Implementation of Water Quality Monitoring Interventions. Journal of Water Resource and Protection, 16, 123-139. doi: 10.4236/jwarp.2024.162008.