HEALTH RISK OF DUMPSITE WORKERS AT NGONG

Speaking to dump site custodians at Ngong township late on Thursday who openly revealed that their daily bread basket is the site, paints a grim picture to what extent fellow Kenyans go through to get a meal at the table for their siblings, parents and families. This I observed is oblivious of the Health effects they incur toiling and moiling through the mountains of waste daily from dusk to dawn. Rashid Mohammed who calls himself he chief of the site intimated to me that the greatest health hazard is the constant reports of typhoid cases of his compatriots who range from teenage boys to full grown women, a situation he decries to be totally controllable. Rashid says that he constantly advises his colleagues to always wash their hands and bodies thoroughly especially before eating with soap, medicated soap (though not commonly used) with warm water.

Typhoid is a bacterial disease caused by Salmonella typhi mainly transmitted via oral-fecal contamination as well as drinking water polluted by urine from an infected individual. According to World Health organization more than 22 million cases of typhoid infections are reported annually with a total of 216,000 deaths reported especially in school  going children and young adults with a staggering rate of  274 fatalities out of every 100,000 cases.

The intriguing bit of typhoid infection is that, patients transmit the infective bacteria for as long as the bacteria remain in their body with an estimated 10% of untreated patients releasing the bacteria for up to 3 months. In addition, 2–5% of untreated patients will become permanent, lifelong carriers of the bacteria in their gall-bladder found in the liver.

Rashid who is also a rapper,underpinned the fact that many at times hospital waste usually untreated is dumped at the site but their knowledge of which truck brings what kind of waste, it helps the team avert accidental infctions through the needles and other piercing objects. This I must say is a dangerous phenomena whose effects can be fatal.

Cases of chest problems such as Tuberculosis have also been reported by the team working with Rashid informally at the dump site. This team, however is able to, though in a small way to pick up glass and plastic containers and sell them in order to sustain themselves instead of engaging in unlawful activities as they all emphatically stated.

According to a recent research done by an Industrial Chemistry graduate, at the University of Nairobi, Mr. Marlone Oguma, heavy metals concentrations are exceptionally high around dumping site, a situation that predisposes those in and around the dump site to complications such as birth defects and different malignant diseases.

Although such effects have not been observed by Rashid and his team, could scratching the surface of the population around the dump site reveal details not before seen or talked about?