The COVID19 pandemic is truly global. Although many people in the developed world suffer mild symptoms, it has become clear that people of all ages can be susceptible to the virus and become seriously ill. In Turkana, the challenges to the health of the local communities are already acute, many and varied - malaria, cholera, dysentery and most are attributable to common causes - malnutrition, lack of fresh water and access to hygienic facilities.

The Nariokotome Public Health Clinic that New Ways supports is located 160 kms north of Lodwar town on the western shore of Lake Turkana. Its at the centre of a remote and extensive area about the size of Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex combined, with a population of around 45,000 people. There are a number of small population centres and settlements scattered across the region within the Nariokotome PHC catchment area, and this project will benefit all of these villages and communities.

This campaign is focused on providing the materials they need to accelerate and maintain basic hygiene standards through the use of sopa, hand sanitising products, and community outreach programmes to increase awareness of the need for good hygiene to avoid infection. This is critical, as it is all over the world, to help protect the local population in light of the COVID19 outbreak.