Publications

Flooding has become one of the leading disasters worldwide. In Kenya, the flooding events are influenced by awide range of factors, including the overflow of rivers, flash floods, coastal floods, floods as a result ofunprecedented amounts and intensity of rainfall, inadequate or lack of drainage systems and in some cases, humaninterference with drainage basins, riparian zone and watersheds. Flooding has a wide range of health consequencessuch as drowning, injury, outbreak of gastroenteritis, respiratory infections, poisoning, communicable diseases,epidemic diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea, and dengue fever, poor mental health, and disability, among others;however, the focus of this paper is on infectious diseases. Flooding alters the balance of the environment and oftencreates a conducive environment for the development of pathogens and vectors. The diseases that are most likelyto be affected by flooding are those that require vehicular transfer from host to host (waterborne) and or ahost/vector as part of its life cycle (vector-borne). In addition, flooding may hinder access and provision of urgentmedical services to suppress the spread of infectious diseases leading to a wider spread. In light of the increasedthreat of flooding due to amplification by climate change, there is need for a better understanding of theassociation and underlying dynamics of outbreak of infectious diseases following flooding to inform policy.