Water is a basic human need which is required in many operations especially in households. However, this essential commodity in most cases does not meet the generally accepted safety standards. The study was designed to investigate the physico-chemical and bacteriological quality of drinking water used in households in Kisii town, Kenya. Analytical cross-sectional study was conducted to obtain information concerning household drinking water quality and safety. Stratified random sampling was used to obtain 422 drinking water samples at the point of consumption from the 4 zones of Kisii town for analysis. From the study it was revealed that TDS and electrical conductivity of the analyzed water samples were within the recommended standards of less than 1000 ppm and 1500 μSCM À1 respectively. Further, it was found that 69.4% of the samples had pH range of between 6.5-8.5, 91.9% had turbidity of less than 5NTU, 3.8% had temperature below 15 C and 31.2% of the chlorinated samples had chlorine residue above 0.2 ppm. In terms of bacteriological analysis, 39.3% of the samples were contaminated with total coliforms and 17.5% with E. coli. The main finding from the study was that the household water samples were contaminated with bacteria and unfit for human consumption because both total coliforms and E. coli exceeded the recommended Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) and WHO standards. Therefore, public health officers should not only collect water samples from sources but also from households regularly to ascertain its quality and provide water safety promotion education to the general public. There was a strong relationship between bacterial contamination and temperature as well as chlorine residue. The study recommends Gusii Water and Sanitation Company (GWASCO) whose treatment and distribution capacity is expected to increase 4.5 times the current capacity to improve on their chlorine dosage at the treatment plant to ensure a minimum chlorine residue of 0.2 ppm at the household and community taps.

Prostatism refers to obstruction of the bladder neck due to an enlargement of the prostate as men ages leading to urinary difficulties (Jong et al., 2014). Prostatism results to development of nodules which are larger blocking the urethrahence increasing urine flow resistance. The condition is manifested by irritative symptoms (sensory urgency, urgency, frequency plus urgent incontinence) and obstructive (double voiding, decreased stream, urinary retention, terminal dribbling and hesitancy (Cunningham, 2013). Countries in Sub Saharan African are

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Background: Tuberculosis is a global health concern and the incident rate in Kenya remains high. Because of the long duration of standard treatment (six months), there is a risk of treatment default by patients. Low adherence to treatment may result in the emergence of resistant strains of the Mycobacterium Tuberculosis in turn increasing mortality and prolonging the treatment duration. The rising TB cases in Kenya have been associated with poor adherence and low cure rate arising from inappropriate health education. Directly Observed Therapy, Short-course (DOTS) Strategy, in combination with patient education have proved to be more effective in reducing TB incident than the DOTS Strategy alone. However, there is lack of Evidence Based Protocol to guide Medical Professionals through the implementation of health education for TB patients. Objective: The main objective of this study was to determine the effect of health education in promoting adherence to treatment among the urban and rural tuberculosis patients in Kenya. The study used the PRECEDE-PROCEED model. Design: The study adopted Randomized Controlled Trial Design with pre-and post-test assessment. The Multi-Stage Sampling Technique was applied to select the study respondents. Random sampling was adopted to select the hospitals, health centers and dispensaries. Simple random sampling method was also used to assign the patients into experimental and control groups.Setting: The study was conducted in fourteen public health facilities in Nairobi and Murang’a Counties; 2 Hospitals, 7 health centers, 5 dispensaries. Participants: A total of 450 patients were recruited from the selected health facilities by random sampling according to probability proportionate to TB patient’s population. Only 373 met the eligibility criteria for the study. Intervention: Health Education Program for 10-15 minutes on average, twice a month for the next 6+ months as the Patient went for the weekly drug ration.Main measurement outcome: Level of adherence to TB treatment in patients.Methods: The study was conducted between September 2019 and February 2020. Only patients aged 18 years and above who had been on DOTS for at least two weeks were selected. Health education was given to those in the experimental group while those in the control group did not receive the intervention. After the six months of treatment the two groups were compared. Standard Questionnaire was used to collect data. Multivariate Analysis of Variance, Odds Ratio and Chi-square tests were used to evaluate the association between health education and adherence to TB treatment. Results: 450 patients were recruited (experimental group=225, control group=225). 77 patients did not meet the eligibility criteria leaving 373 patients (experimental group=186, control group=187). 83.3% of patients in the experimental group had high level adherence after intervention in the post- test phase compared to 60.4% of patients who had high level adherence in the control group in the post-test phase. Wilk’s Λ had an F value of 18.540, p<0.001, Odds Ratio was 3.274 and χ²= 24.189, p<0.001, indicating that the health education intervention improved adherence to medication. Gender, levels of education, marital status and primary occupation were also found to be significantly associated with adherence to medication (p<0.05). Conclusions: Health education enhanced patients’ adherence to TB treatment regime. A health education program should be adopted and rolled out to health facilities and health care settings that provide TB services in Kenya.

It has been shown through a survey by World Health Organization and International Commission on Radiological Protection that certain materials (stones) sourced from quarries and used for the building are radioactive. In Kenya, underground stones which are sourced from embedded rocks are used in construction of most of the permanent buildings, yet Kenya has not adequately radio-profiled sources of building materials to determine whether the construction materials contain radionuclides that emit ionizing radiations yet are used for building. Consequently, Kenyans could be at risk of exposure to high levels of ionizing radiations by living in stone houses that are not radio-profiled. Health problems arise due to subjection to ionizing radiations. The study determined the levels of ionizing radiations in sampled quarries in Nyamira County by using Radiological survey dosimeters to show the radiation readings in milliRoentgen/hr then converted to milliSievert per year and the Global Positioning System device took note of the quarries' geographical positions. The study used Minitab version 17.0 software to establish the statistical differences of degree of exposure in sampled quarries. The sample size for the study was 40 quarries. It was revealed that Q-073 and Q-075 both had the lowest radiation readings of 0.64mSv while Q-079 had the highest reading of 3.46mSv equal to a deviation from WHO approved threshold of -35.71%,-36.29% and 245.7%, respectively. The results indicated that 89% of the sampled quarries had radiation emissions above the ICRP and WHO standard. However, within Borabu Sub County, only 5 and within Manga Sub-County 4 of the sampled quarries had radiation readings below ICRP and WHO recommended standards of 1mSv/yr. It was exhibited from the study results that there are higher levels of ionizing radiations in quarries going past recommended standards per year hence causing health risk to quarry workers and general public. Therefore, these results could guide in formation of the national construction policies by including regular surveying for the levels of ionizing radiation in building materials as well as in practicing appropriate mitigation strategies.