Kenyan Priorities

[MOON Ki]

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"From Monday, March 16, the Kenyan public healthcare system stopped radiotherapy for cancer patients. Radiotherapy is only available in Nairobi and public hospitals have only two machines, both at the Kenyatta National Hospital
...
Why does a country which is building a Sh300 billion railway have only two cancer treatment machines?"

(Presumably the authors means GoK expenditure on SGR and public hospitals and does not include private hospitals.)

http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinion/There-is-no-excuse-for-the-negligence-of-cancer-treatment/-/440808/2659712/-/11d8fsg/-/index.html

"More than 547 million Africans lack access to basic sanitation, a situation that, due to illness, premature deaths and school absenteeism, is costing the continent billions annually in lost Gross Domestic Product, including Sh31 billion in Kenya alone"

http://www.nation.co.ke/lifestyle/DN2/The-indignity-of-open-defecation-in-the-21st-century/-/957860/2659386/-/9o4ot5/-/index.html

"The grim annual hunger statistics have been posted once again. About 10 million Kenyans face food shortages at any given time. Currently, about two million people face chronic food scarcity. These are bare statistics: the grim reality behind them will soon hit us in the form of images of emaciated children, women, and men.
...
Of what use is 5,000 kilometres of paved roads, nuclear energy, or standard gauge railway if some Kenyans have nothing to eat?"

http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinion/Food-Security-Hunger-Famine-Kenya/-/440808/2642596/-/11eqrw5z/-/index.html

http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinion/Africa-needs-to-prioritise-its-agriculture/-/440808/2656908/-/s7idw7z/-/index.html

[veritas]

Radiotherapy is harmful. Best to stick with surgery like intraperitoneal procedures like infusing the drugs to the tumor directly rather than burning with lasers which cause scarring and further tumor spread. Radiotherapy is a last resort for what could be a treatable condition.

[RV Pundit]

Maybe because the AID industry has distorted gov role in public health and food security.GoK has take back the basic social services.

[Reticent Solipsist]

The key problem remains the inability of the Kenyan political class to think strategically. They continue being obsessed with policies that they think will have short to medium-term implications - think the SGR project - a very costly project that will forever be associated with the two persons in power. Yet, they ironically neglect Kenya's long-term needs that are even more vital to achieving the key objectives of development.

One might be inclined to make the case that perhaps there are not enough opportunities for rent-seeking in healthcare and sanitation. Lest I forget, riparian zones and forests also tend to suffer from wilful neglect in the cynical game that is politics in Kenya!

[Mr Mansfield.]

Yes Infrastructure is important,It will create more economic growth which translates to more business activity hence more government revenue,BUT it should be left to the private sector,gov should focus on basic things like food,shelter,education,security,health,

Without Prejudice.

[Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants]

@MOON Ki,

It seems to me that the logistical and technical infrastructure for maintaining such equipment in Kenya is not available locally.  I can't think of where in Kenya a linear particale accelerator would be fixed if it breaks down? 

These things are made by companies like GE, Siemens etc.  They are expensive as hell.  How does a country like Kenya reach the stage where the manufacture and maintainance of such machines is routine not to mention profitable?

That said, I have little doubt it boils down ultimately to the lack of a maintenance culture in Kenya.  The few things that work are usually spanking new.  Any money set aside for routine maintenance is eaten until the machine breaks down.

@veritas,

Aren't those techniques you mention useful in a situation where the tumors are discovered in a timely fashion?  I think in Kenya, most people discover they have cancer when it is in its last stages.

[MOON Ki]

`Country lost Sh36.5 billion to poor sanitation:  ....
In this day and age, about six million Kenyans still defecate in the open. That is why we have  cholera outbreak in Migori and Bomet counties. We should not be talking about  cholera in this technological era we are in," Kariuki said.

A study conducted by World Bank and Ministry of Health on sanitation revealed that in 2012, the country lost Sh27billion, while results released early this year show a lose of Sh36.5billion.'

http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2000155517/country-lost-sh36-5-billion-to-poor-sanitation

From Jukwaa, back in 2013:

"Some time ago while on a flight from Nairobi I met a foreigner who has been labouring to build cheap, efficient toilets in Kenya. I was astonished at the figures he produced for how much shite was costing us. But I later checked, and it was hard to argue with the figures. (I have previously posted some of them on Jukwaa but cannot readily recall the title of the thread)

Going by the following report we now have new figures. (I have yet to confirm them from other sources, but they seem credible enough.)

www.the-star.co.ke/news/article-113565/lack-latrines-costs-kenya-sh27-billion-every-year

By way of comparison, the Thika "Superhighway" cost approximately only one year's worth of shite. And the last figures I saw for the provision of an adequate number of "permanent" facilities was just below $100 million.

I have also previously written about food. Not just the famine stuff, with starving people covered with flies showing up on TV, but even more basic things: the number of Kenyan children whose physical growth and brain-development get stunted due to inadequate nutrition is astonishing.

Proper food, decent housing and education, adequate health facilities, basic security .... these are the things I imagine are (or should be) of concern to the majority of Kenyans, many of whom face all sorts of daily struggles."

Read more: http://jukwaa.proboards.com/thread/8202/kenyan-essentials-rising-cost-shite#ixzz3Uxjspuxn

How about some time, money, and effort devoted to "Shitting Infrastructure"?  By all accounts, that would save lives as well as money for the country.

[veritas]

@MOON Ki,

It seems to me that the logistical and technical infrastructure for maintaining such equipment in Kenya is not available locally.  I can't think of where in Kenya a linear particale accelerator would be fixed if it breaks down? 

These things are made by companies like GE, Siemens etc.  They are expensive as hell.  How does a country like Kenya reach the stage where the manufacture and maintainance of such machines is routine not to mention profitable?

That said, I have little doubt it boils down ultimately to the lack of a maintenance culture in Kenya.  The few things that work are usually spanking new.  Any money set aside for routine maintenance is eaten until the machine breaks down.

@veritas,

Aren't those techniques you mention useful in a situation where the tumors are discovered in a timely fashion?  I think in Kenya, most people discover they have cancer when it is in its last stages.

No. If timely and early stages go straight to surgery. Cut them out. Radiotherapy isn't curative.