How Kenyan volunteers hunt polio’s hidden trail

Published 14 July 2026 · health

Community health volunteers travel across remote northern Kenya to detect poliovirus before it can spread. Samburu County, Kenya – A motorbike roars to life, kicking

Community health volunteers travel across remote northern Kenya to detect poliovirus before it can spread. Samburu County, Kenya – A motorbike roars to life, kicking up pale dust in the June heat of northern Kenya. Eroi Lemarkat accelerates along a dirt track after reports of another child who has suddenly lost the use of one or both limbs. It could be polio. It could be another illness. Either way, he cannot afford to wait. Every report takes him deeper into remote settlements, often several hours from the nearest health facility. Across Africa, wild poliovirus has been eliminated, and Kenya has not recorded a case since 2013. But a vaccine-derived strain can still circulate where too few children are immunised, allowing the weakened virus used in the oral polio vaccine to spread and mutate. It poses a risk only in under-immunised communities, particularly in remote and nomadic parts of the country. To stop it spreading, Kenya relies on two complementary surveillance systems. Silent search In Nairobi, health officials routinely test wastewater for traces of poliovirus, often detecting it before anyone develops symptoms. “The information gathered by community health volunteers in high-risk counties, such as Turkana and Samburu, allows the ministry to respond quickly with targeted interventions,” Dr Galm Glelo, the Ministry of Health’s national point person for polio surveillance, told Al Jazeera.

Yet wastewater surveillance has its limits. It only works where sewer networks exist. In Kenya’s sparsely populated north, where there are no wastewater-sampling sites, the search depends on community health volunteers. Instead of waiting for sick children to reach health facilities, volunteers investigate reports of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) and collect stool samples to determine whether poliovirus is circulating in communities that formal health services rarely reach. Race against time For Lemarkat, every investigation begins with a rumour. News that a child has suddenly stopped walking or lost the use of an arm or leg spreads quickly through villages and nomadic settlements, passing from neighbours to elders and local leaders long before it reaches health workers. Lemarkat follows every lead, often riding for hours to isolated families. Before approaching parents, he first seeks the support of village elders, administrative chiefs or religious leaders to reassure communities and gain their trust. Time is critical. Health workers must collect two stool samples within 14 days of the onset of paralysis to maximise the chances of detecting the virus. “It is a race against time. If we arrive too late, we may lose the opportunity to confirm whether polio is responsible,” Lemarkat told Al Jazeera.