Okotjitundu – The Okotjitundu football and netball tournament is set to take place this weekend at the restored Gustaf Ngondo Stadium in Okotjitundu, Okakarara Constituency. Tournament organizer Veitunga Viakondo, in an interview with Nampa on Wednesday, shared that the event, initiated in 2019, was interrupted in 2021 due to Covid-19. The tournament aims to nurture emerging talents and provide a platform for young athletes. Viakondo noted that the tournament has been instrumental in launching the careers of many Namibia Premier Football League players.
According to Namibian Press Agency (NAMPA), Organized by a committee without official sponsors, the event represents a community effort to support sports development in Namibia. The tournament offers a total prize of N.dollars 30 000, with N.dollars 25 000 allocated to football and N.dollars 5 000 to the top four netball teams. Prizes include N.dollars 2 500 for the winning netball team, N.dollars 1 500 for the runner-up, and N.dollars 500 for semi-final losers. In football, the winner will receive N.dollars 11 500, the runner-up N.dollars 6 500, and N.dollars 3 500 for each semi-final loser. Viakondo invites teams from across the country to participate, with last year’s tournament won by the host team, Kwasa-Kwasa Eleven.
The Kenya Demographic and Health Survey for Kericho County, disseminated by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, released data indicating an improvement in many of the health indicators in the county.
Kericho County Statistics Officer, Mr. Yusuf Shanko, who presented the 2022 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey for Kericho County, urged stakeholders to utilise the findings of the survey to improve service delivery to the people and to implement the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda.
The report indicated positive health indicators in Kericho, such as that 91 per cent of women delivered in a health facility, while only 9.1 per cent of women reported to have delivered from home.
Shanko mentioned that there has been an improvement in the mortality rate since 2003. Under-5 child mortality, for example, had 41 deaths per 1,000 births in 2003, and in 2022, there were 31 deaths per 1,000 births.
The survey further revealed an increase in women involved in decision-making, a decline in incidences of vi
olence against women, the presence of teenage pregnancies, and a decline in the prevalence of non-communicable diseases,’ explained Shanko.
According to the report, he revealed that 7 per cent of men and 2 per cent of women suffered from depression, while men and women suffered equally from high blood pressure at 2 per cent, saying the percentage could increase due to low health seeking behaviour.
On Gender-Based Violence, Shanko disclosed that 20 per cent of women in Kericho reported having experienced physical, sexual, or emotional violence, while 43 per cent never sought help after experiencing violence and only 12 per cent sought help after experiencing violence.
The objective of the county-level dissemination of the survey findings is to provide the stakeholders with up-to-date estimates of demographic and health indicators to guide the planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of population and health-related programmes at the county levels.
Shanko said the survey analysed several indicat
ors, which include maternal and newborn health, family planning, fertility, infant and child mortality, nutrition of children and adults, household water and sanitation, gender-based violence, Female Genital Mutilation and women’s empowerment.
‘Key findings in the survey in which 900 households participated included improvements in maternal health indicators, an improved mortality rate, a reduction in chronic malnutrition, a decline in fertility rate, increased use of modern family planning methods, and a decrease in women giving birth out of a health facility.
The data dissemination meeting, which brought together economists, statisticians, financial experts, health officials, civil society, and other stakeholders, underscored the need for integrating the KDHS factsheet in any decision-making process.
Other stakeholders who graced the event included Kericho County Executive Committee Member for Finance and Economic Planning, Mr. Leonard Ngetich, and Chief Officer for Economic Planning, Mr. Alphonce Rotich
.
Source: Kenya News Agency