Mutomo District was a former district in the
Eastern Province of
Kenya
Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...
.
[Office of Public Communications]
List of Provinces, Districts & Contacts
Retrieved 17 March 2013. Its population is 180,000.
The administrative center of the district is
Mutomo.
In 2010, it was merged into
Kitui County
Kitui County is one of the 47 counties of Kenya in the former Eastern Province of Kenya. Its capital and largest town is Kitui. Mwingi is also another major urban centre. The county has a population of about 1.2 million people (as of 2024)Ny ...
.
Mutomo district was one of the poorest areas in Kenya. It is without
tarmac roads, and lacks electricity or plumbing in homes. The chronic, severe
drought
A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...
affecting all of Kenya has especially affected this area.
[
]
Water situation
The climate is semi-arid
A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a aridity, dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below Evapotranspiration#Potential evapotranspiration, potential evapotranspiration, but not as l ...
and rainfall is unpredictable; when it comes it can be heavy, causing flooding and erosion.[Facts about Mutomo – Climate]
The Mutomo Projects. Retrieved 17 March 2013. Lack of clean water is one of the area's primary problems[Facts about Mutomo – Water situation]
The Mutomo Projects. Retrieved 17 March 2013. and the population depends on seasonal rainfall. Available water from dams and seasonal rivers, which must be carried by the people in the area to their homes, is often contaminated and green with algae
Algae ( , ; : alga ) is an informal term for any organisms of a large and diverse group of photosynthesis, photosynthetic organisms that are not plants, and includes species from multiple distinct clades. Such organisms range from unicellular ...
. Contaminated water can result in waterborne diseases such as cholera
Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...
, typhoid
Typhoid fever, also known simply as typhoid, is a disease caused by ''Salmonella enterica'' serotype Typhi bacteria, also called ''Salmonella'' Typhi. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often ther ...
and dysentery
Dysentery ( , ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications may include dehyd ...
.[ In 2009 there was a cholera outbreak in parts of the district in which seven died,]sanitation
Sanitation refers to public health conditions related to clean drinking water and treatment and disposal of human excreta and sewage. Preventing human contact with feces is part of sanitation, as is hand washing with soap. Sanitation systems ...
were related to the outbreak, according to authorities, and the capacity of hospitals was strained.
District projects
The Kenya Red Cross Society, Kitui branch, outlined a program in July 2011 to be implemented in two areas of the Mutomo District, Mathima and Kanziku that have badly contaminated water, and lasting until the following April. The program distributed portable water filters called " Lifestraw filters and LifeStaw Family filters" which come in two sizes: one small enough for school children to hang around their necks[ (since it is the children who carry much of the water), and a larger filter supplied for household use. The small filter lasts three years and the larger one is good for five years. The program aimed to supply 3,750 pupils and 6,750 households.][
The purpose of the non-profit Mutomo Projects is to improve the lives of the people in the Mutomo District by encouraging community participation, including contributions of labor. Many of its projects are geared toward ]sustainable development
Sustainable development is an approach to growth and Human development (economics), human development that aims to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.United Nations General ...
and the creation of microcredit
Microcredit is the extension of very small loans (microloans) to impoverished borrowers who typically do not have access to traditional banking services due to a lack of collateral (finance), collateral, steady employment, and a verifiable credi ...
groups for funding.[The Mutomo Projects]
The Mutomo Projects. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
Ekani is one of the poorest villages in the district and no longer has a dispensary
A dispensary is an office in a school, hospital, industrial plant, or other organization that dispenses medications, medical supplies, and in some cases even medical and dental treatment. In a traditional dispensary set-up, a pharmacist dispense ...
. Although built, it was never operated due to lack of funding.
See also
*Districts of Kenya
Sub-counties, formerly known as Districts, are the decentralised units through which government of Kenya provides functions and services. At national level, sub-counties take a more administrative function like security, statistical purposes, pr ...
References
External links
New ALIN video on harvesting rainwater from rock catchments in Kenya’s dry areas
Climate & Development Knowledge Network
The influence of sponsorship programs on pupils retention rates in primary schools, Mutomo district Kitui county, Kenya
by Harun Githinji Gachanja
Drought in Kenya: Climatic, Economic and Socio-Political Factors
by Serigne T. Kandji in ''New Standpoints'', November–December 2006
{{coord missing, Kenya
Former districts of Kenya
Eastern Province (Kenya)