Kenya: Street Kids Plead for Healthcare, IDs
Published: 25/Juil/2021
Source: Nairobi News
By Collins Omulo
Nairobi Street Families Consortium chairperson Peter Ndiboe said they should be considered for the universal health care being rolled out by the government as all lives matter and none should be lost because of discrimination.
He pointed out that the government policy on universal health care should not be discriminative but apply to all citizens and that the government, through the Ministry of Health, should see to it that they are also catered for.
« Street families are also human beings, they need access to better healthcare just like any other Kenyan, they are prone to various illnesses owing to their lifestyle. We also need food especially this time of Covid-19 when getting food in the street is next to impossible, » said Mr Ndiboe, a reformed street family.
A 2018 survey by the State Department for Social Protection put the number of street families in Nairobi at slightly more than 10,000 but the consortium estimates that there are approximately 60,000 street families in the capital city.
The street families also want the government to issue them with identification documents as they are also eligible citizens of Kenya and access to ID cards, birth certificates, and Huduma Namba cards should not be seen as sympathetic to them.
« They should not see themselves as aliens or people living in their own country illegally. This will enable them to seek employment anywhere in the country, participate or exercise their democratic rights of electing competent leaders, » he said.
Read further: https://nairobinews.nation.co.ke/news/street-kids-plead-for-healthcare-ids