Administration, Security, Devolution, Public Participation, Community Services & Drugs Control Committee

The department is responsible for all administration services to the county and to the public. The main functions of the department include the following:

1. Investigate, inquire into, and report on all matters relating to the mandate, management, activities, administration, operations and estimates of the assigned departments;
2. study the programme and policy objectives of departments and the effectiveness of the implementation;
3. Study and review all County legislation referred to it;
4. Study, assess and analyze the relative success of the departments as measured by the results obtained as compared with their stated objectives;
5. Investigate and inquire into all matters relating to the assigned departments as they may deem necessary, and as may be referred to them by the County Assembly;
6. Vet and report on all appointments where the Constitution or any law requires the County Assembly to approve, except those under Standing Order 187 (Committee on Appointments);
7. Make reports and recommendations to the County Assembly as often as possible, including recommendation of proposed legislation.

Lands, Housing, Physical Planning and Urban Development

The 2009 population and Housing census report indicated that the distribution of housing with regard to main walling materials is 51.1%, 42.5%, 2.4% and 2.1% for brick/block, mud/wood, mud/cement and stone respectively. Due to compensation for large infrastructure such as SGR and Road construction. Many families improved their household environment.

The total land area in Taita Taveta County is 17,084.1km². The two National Parks (Tsavo East and Tsavo West) cover an approximate area of 10,650 Km², which translates to about 62% of the total land area. Water bodies in the county account for approximately 16 Km² of the land area, leaving about 22% of county land for settlement and agricultural activities.
Land available for household farming activities is further reduced drastically due to the presence of a total of 28 ranches which combined, cover an approximate area of 773.5 Km2. Eight of these belong to the Kenya government, nine to group ranches and 11 are privately owned. The average size of the ranches is 2,762.5 Ha. Large-scale sisal farming for fibre production further reduces the land available for settlement and household farming activities. Rain-fed agriculture is the dominant activity by most households as subsistence and/or economic undertaking.
The land in the County is communally owned with approximately 35% having title deeds. Land adjudication is currently ongoing, to ensure all landowners are issued with title deeds. Landlessness is on the increase as a result of poverty, illegal land evictions, internal displacement of persons, natural disasters. Unresolved land tenure issues continue to be a thorny issue in the
county in all the sub-counties.

Settlement patterns in the county have mixed variations. There is a scattered form of settlement majorly in the rural areas with medium and high cluster settlement patterns more prevalent in minor and major towns within the county. Most of the county’s urban centers have not been well planned and subdivided for allocation purposes leaving them to poor and unplanned urban developments. In recent times, the county has witness growth of key urban centres of voi, Mwatate and Taveta. The rapid growth of population has seen the emergence of peri-urban settlement and expansion of informal and unplanned settlements. There is an increase of unplanned trading centres along the Mombasa–Nairobi highways and on the Voi-Taveta Road.

Energy, Water, Environment and Natural Resources

1. The department has a mandate to investigate, inquire into, and report on all matters relating to the mandate, management, activities, administration, operations and estimates of the assigned departments;
2. study the programme and policy objectives of departments and the effectiveness of the implementation;
3. study and review all County legislation referred to it;
4. study, assess and analyze the relative success of the departments as measured by the results obtained as compared with their stated objectives;
5. investigate and inquire into all matters relating to the assigned departments as they may deem necessary, and as may be referred to them by the County Assembly;
6. vet and report on all appointments where the Constitution or any law requires the County Assembly to approve, except those under Standing Order 187 (Committee on Appointments) ;
7. make reports and recommendations to the County Assembly as often as possible, including recommendation of proposed legislation.

The main source of energy in the county includes electricity, solar and wood fuel. Though a good number of areas have been connected to the national electricity grid some areas in Taveta and Wundanyi sub-counties are yet to be reached.
However, firewood and charcoal are the main source of cooking fuel respectively and also lighting fuel is paraffin followed by electricity and solar. Solar energy where there is great potential has however not been exploited. A significant percentage of the urban areas have been connected to the national electricity grid and a growing number of the villages are being connected to the grid through the National Rural Electrification Programme however there is still much more progress to be made.

Solar and Wind: The great potential for solar energy within the county remains untapped with a number of feasibility studies by investors currently ongoing and
a World Bank Project being reviewed.

Rising temperatures, changes in precipitation and siltation of water reservoirs continue to affect water quality and quantity. Changes in the water resources in turn affect other sectors including agriculture, health, energy production and ecosystem health. The number of households with access to safe drinking water is 41,390 representing about 58% of the total number of households. Only about a quarter of the population (27.4%) access water from public taps.

The increasing population in Taita Taveta, like in other counties, continue to put pressure on the shrinking water resources. Major water sources e.g. Rivers Voi and Jipe and springs were reported to have dried up. Also, water sources in the national  parks have dried, forcing wildlife moves to human settlements to find water, thereby triggering  human-wildlife and livestock-wildlife conflicts.

The Taita Taveta County total forest cover is about 280 Km², representing 0.51% of the total  County area (TTCIDP, 2014). The county has a total of 78 forest parcels but 52 parcels are yet to  be gazetted, an exercise that is to be undertaken by the county government. The gazetted forests  cover an area of 1,489.8 Ha whereas the non-gazetted ones cover an area of approximately 9,000  ha (TTCIDP, 2014). The indigenous forests in the County possess unique biodiversity, being home to varied flora and fauna. Over 20 endemic species of African violets (e.g. Saintpaulia teitensis) occur exclusively in Taita Taveta. Also, the Taita Thrush and the Taita Apalis are birds‟ endemic only to the county. The Taita Falcon and the Taita Fiscal were first discovered at the hills but occur elsewhere too. However, climate change seems to have worsened the problems already faced by forests from encroachment for agriculture, over-extraction of timber and non-timber products e.g. charcoal production.

Roads, Public Works, and Transport

The department is responsible for looking into matters that relates to County transport, including county roads, street lighting, traffic and parking, public transport, ferries and harbors excluding the regulation of international and national shipping and matters related thereto, County public works and services including storm water management systems in built up areas and water sanitation service. It is a permanent committee established by Standing orders of the Assembly.

The functions of the Committee is to-

1. investigate, inquire into, and report on all matters relating to the mandate, management, activities, administration, operations and estimates of the assigned departments;
2. study the programme and policy objectives of departments and the effectiveness of the implementation;
3. study and review all County legislation referred to it;
4. study, assess and analyze the relative success of the departments as measured by the results obtained as compared with their stated objectives;
5. investigate and inquire into all matters relating to the assigned departments as they may deem necessary, and as may be referred to them by the County Assembly;
6. vet and report on all appointments where the Constitution or any law requires the County Assembly to approve, except those under Standing Order 187 (Committee on Appointments) ; and
7. make reports and recommendations to the County Assembly as often as possible, including recommendation of proposed legislation.

Taita Taveta County has a total road network of 1832.29km. of which 283.2km are of bitumen standards, 168.09km. of murram, and 1381km earth road. Key roads in the county  include Mombasa-Nairobi highway, which covers approximately 270km,Voi-Taveta  Road(110km) Mwatate –Wundanyi Roads, Voi-Salaita gate Road, Maungu-Kasigau road.  The road network has greatly improved in recent times following upgrading of Mwatate-Taveta road to bitumen standards and rehabilitation of Mwatate –Wundanyi road. The county has also seen regular maintenance of both classified and unclassified roads which has greatly improved increased accessibility and agricultural productivity.

Railway: In the past, the County of Taita Taveta had two railway networks namely:
1. The Voi – Taveta Railway line and
2. The Mombasa – Voi – Nairobi railway line.

While the Voi-Taveta railway line is now defunct having been in-operation for a number of years, the Mombasa – Voi – Nairobi railway line has since been upgraded to a Standard Gauge Railway(SGR). The SGR line runs both passenger and cargo trains with the latter commencing operations in 2018. The county hosts two of the SGR Terminus Stations at Miasenyi and Voi, with a total of 170km of railway track running through the county. The SGR has greatly enhanced accessibility to the county for both trade and tourism purposes.

Lorry Parks: A modern lorry park is situated in Maungu, Voi Sub-County. This Lorry park was among the national flagship projects under Vision 2030 and was handed over to the County Government in 2015. The park while operational is not yet running at full capacity with a lot of potential for increased tenancy within the restaurant, accommodation and trade facilities as well as the basic parking area. Parking of lorries and trailers in other urban centres in the county still remain a challenge as it is uncontrolled.

Bus parks: The Voi Central Business District hosts the main transport terminus. The
terminus accommodates vehicles plying both county, national and international routes including
Buses and 14-Seater vehicles (Matatus) from areas such as Nairobi, Mombasa, Tanzania and from within the county.

Airstrip: Taita Taveta County has a total of 17 public airstrips most of which are
underutilized or undeveloped. The airstrips are located in Taveta (6), Voi (5) and Mwatate (6). The main airstrips are Ikanga, Taveta and KWS. Plans are underway to have Ikanga airstrip handle chartered airlines which will greatly boost tourism and trade in the county. There are also two private airstrips one in Taveta and one Mwatate and 4 airstrips in Tsavo National Park

Culture, Sports, Youth and Social Services

The sector comprises of sports development, youth development, social development, and Culture Development. The department works with a vision of being a County, where Social protection ignites the passion to participate and express pride in our cultural diversity, where our athletes perform honorably and consistently and where all residents are treated equally. Youth empowerment has made great progress in the county. This has seen establishment of youth empowerment centres in Mwatate, Voi and Taveta. The DATU Sawazisha Fund has also been set up to provide loans for youths at no interest. A Youth Summits is situated in Voi acts as a centre that tackles social and political issues affecting the youths.

The sports section function include:

• Promotion and development of sports in Taita Taveta County.
• Provide an avenue for Sports career development.
• Advocacy for recognition of sports as an industry.
• Promotion of good management and governance in sports.
• Enhancement of peace and unity through sports.

The strategies to maintain and improve the section include:

• Renovation of existing Sports facilities.
• Training clinics for Coaches, Referees and Sports Administrators/ Managers.
• Sports Talent Academies.
• Provision of play equipment.
• Support on going leagues.
• Construction of new Standard Sports Facilities.
• Organize tournaments with thematic issues e.g. peace, environment, drug abuse etc.
• Sports lottery/ Sports fund.
• Facilitate Sports Clubs to engage in Income generating activities.

The Youth Development has the following functions

• Youth Empowerment and Development Program
• Youth, Volunteerism/ Internship Programme
• Career fairs and exhibitions
• Entrepreneurship Employment training program

The strategies to maintain and improve the sector include:

• Community based campaigns on HIV&AIDS and other health related issues, crime and drugs use;
• Education; Creation of networks; Leisure and recreation services at the community level;
• Availing of information.
• Planning, Recruitment, Training and Posting of youth volunteers
• Planning, publicity auditions and competition
• Teaching computer; Job readiness; Entrepreneurship; Cross-cultural and International Communication Skills to out of school youths.
• Construction/ quipping Youth Empowerment centers.

The Social Development sector functions include:

• DATU Fund disbursement
• Gender based violence.
• Persons Living with disability

The strategies to maintain and improve the sector include:

• Financial assistance to youth, women and PWDs.
• Hold sensitizations meetings, workshop and seminars on gender-based violence.
• Provision of material assistance to Persons living with disabilities.
• Construct and equip rescue centers

The Culture Development sector functions

• Registration of Cultural group.
• Capacity building.
• Monitoring and evaluation.
• Trade shows & Exhibitions
• Rehabilitation of Cultural sites.

The strategies to maintain and improve the sector include:

• Process and register cultural groups
• Facilitate capacity building seminars
• Visit/ Inspection of cultural groups.
• Facilitate community shows/ films/ cinemas.
• Construction/ equipping cultural centers.

Education, Labour and Manpower Development

The department is responsible for all matters concerning education in the county. This section provides a summary of enrolment per gender for both public and private institutions in ECDE, Primary and Secondary. The data covers the enrolment of children with special needs
(SNE) and adult and continuing education (ACE).

The government has introduced a new curriculum which only has two levels, pre-primary 1 and 2. This level of early childhood development education was established to cater for developmental and educational needs of the children between 4-5 years.
The total enrolment in pre-school is 10,230, of whom 48% (5020) are boys and 52% (5,210) girls. The Net Enrolment Rate (NER) is 50.6% and 51.9% for boys and girls respectively. For both sexes, the NER is 51.2%.
The drop-out rate for pre-school education is 0 %. Transition rate to primary stands at close to
100%. The ECDE sub-sector generally lacks adequate learning and teaching materials, especially
books for use at the early age, whilst no standard curriculum is followed.

Primary Education
The total enrolment in primary schools is 65,035, boys making up 48% (26,225) and girls’ 52%
(28,820). The drop-out rate in primary education is 1.8% for boys and 1 % for girls. There are a
total of 1,384 teachers in primary schools, giving a teacher-pupil ratio of 1:39. The Gross Enrolment Rate (GER) in primary education is 136.2% for boys and 128.2% for girls. For both sexes, GER is 144.5%. The overall net enrolment is 85.5%, made up of 83.1% and 88.2% for boys and girls respectively. A large fraction of the community (47%) is distributed within 5 Km and more of a public primary school, while 26.8% and 26.3% are distributed within 0-1 Km and 1.1-4.9 Km of a public primary school respectively.

Non-Formal Education
The non-formal education is made up of the adult and continuing education centres. There are approximately 4 non-formal education centres in Taita Taveta County with each sub county having one centre.

Secondary Education
The total enrollment in secondary schools is 10,857 at the moment, which comprises 5,495 boys and 5,362 girls. The enrolment of boys and girls in secondary schools is almost proportionate. Since the drop-out rate stands at 5.2% and 1.7% for girls and boys respectively, and in primary education enrolment of girls is higher than that of boys, this is an indication that the transition rate from primary to secondary is higher for boys than girls. For both sexes, the transition rate (from primary to secondary) is 67.5%. There are 461 teachers serving the 85 public secondary schools in the County. This translates to a teacher-pupil ratio of 1:23. The average years of student attendance for secondary school is four years, with a GER of 108.6%. The net enrolment Rate (NER) is 20.7% for boys and 25.6% for girls while for both sexes, the NER is 23.1.

The county has one university, the Taita Taveta university collage which stated as a branch of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.

Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperative Development

The main crops grown are in the county are cereals (Maize, sorghum, Rice), pulses (beans, cowpeas, green grams, , pigeon peas), root crops (cassava, and sweet potatoes), horticultural crops (kales, tomatoes, cabbages, French beans, snow peas, capsicum, Asian vegetables), fruit crops (bananas, mangoes, oranges, passion fruit, guavas), nuts and oil crops (macadamia, groundnuts, sunflower, coconut, cashew nut) fibre crops (cotton, sisal), emerging crops (jojoba, moringa,  mushroom, aloe vera, jatropa).

Acreage Under Food and Cash Crops

The county has 2,909.9 Km2 of total arable land, whereby 74% is used for low potential agriculture as it receives an annual mean rainfall of 440mm. The hectarage under food and cash crop production in the County is approximately 18,125 ha and 3,296 ha respectively.

Average Farm Sizes
The average farm size in the highlands is 0.4 Ha, translating into low yield per unit area for most farming households. For small scale farming in the midlands and lowlands, the average farm size is 1.5 Ha and 4.8 Ha respectively.

Main Storage Facilities

Though the county has National Cereal and Produce Board stores in Voi and Taveta, the main storage facilities used by most households are improved granaries, traditional stores, and living houses. Taita Taveta University is the main training facility in the county, KALRO Katumani and Mtwapa are the main research and information sources. The County further has multiplication centers at Bachuma and Mwatate.

Main Livestock Breeds and Facilities

The County is a major livestock rearing zone, with the main types of livestock being beef cattle,  dairy cattle, goats, sheep, camels, donkeys, poultry, bee keeping, rabbit, and pigs. Chicken is the main poultry reared, although guinea fowl quills, turkeys, geese, ducks, peacock, pigeons are emerging poultry. Other emerging livestock enterprises that are yet to be exploited include ostrich farming, crocodile farming, tortoise farming, snakes, silkworm farming, snail farming and butterfly farming in select parts of the County.

The county has two diagnostic laboratories, 73 cattle dips, 89 cattle crushes, 28 slaughterhouses, 4 artificial insemination sub stations, four rural tanneries and twenty-one skin bandas. Common animal diseases in the county include foot and mouth disease, lumpy skin disease, black quarter, anthrax, rift valley fever, goat pox, sheep and goat pox, contagious bovine pleuropneumonia, contagious caprine pleuropneumonia, trypanosomiasis, anaplasmosis, babesiosis, helminthiasis,
brucellosis, new castle disease, gumboro, fowl typhoid, fowl pox, and rabies.

The main fishery activities in the county are aquaculture and capture. Aquaculture is done at the farms while capture fishery is done at Lake Jipe and Lake
Challa both located in Taveta sub- County. Fish farming is mainly undertaken in Taveta and Wundanyi. The main species of fish being farmed include Tilapia and Clarias, the number of fish farmers is estimated at 503, with about 630 fish ponds. The total average area of the fish ponds is 238,600 m². Fishermen spend an average of four hours in any single fishing effort at Lake Jipe with an average harvest of 112 Kgs.

Trade and Industry

The County has got a total of 21 operational market structures, which are well distributed in the constituencies. Though these markets structures exist, instances of traders conducting business in open areas and road reserves is common in all trading centres and residential areas in major urban towns. Main commodities sold in the open air include agricultural produce and used cloth.

Industrial Parks (Including Jua Kali Sheds)
Though the county lacks established industrial parks, two sites exist for establishment on industrial parks at Taveta and Voi. The county also has Jua kali sheds in Voi and Taveta town. The sheds are meant to facilitate participation of youth as artisans and entrepreneurs

Major Industries
The main industries in the county are sisal industries in Voi and Mwatate and Taveta. Other smaller industries include maize millers, bakeries in Taveta and Voi.

Types and Number of Businesses

A wide range of services are offered in Taita Taveta County, in addition to assorted merchandising, manufacturing and hybrid type of businesses. There are a total number of 3842 registered and licensed businesses spread within the 150 trading centres, with a high concentration in Voi and Taveta towns. Retail traders form the largest proportion at 65% of the total registered and licensed businesses.

Taita Taveta is a county endowed with abundant minerals which prompted the construction of a Gemmology centre in Voi, as well as the establishment of a centre for mining in Taita Taveta University (also in Voi). Current estimates indicate that Taita Taveta is one of the leading producers of minerals produced in Kenya, with the geology of the County falling into two categories, namely, the Mozambique belt (Taita hills, Mwatate, Kasigau, and Kuranze areas) and the Tertiary Volcanic belt (Taveta region).
The County is home to more than 40 high value gemstones. According to geological experts,  Tsavorite and ruby are highly sought after globally, with the County being the main source of the minerals worldwide.
The industrial minerals found in this belt are iron ore, limestone, marble, magnetite, asbestos, graphite, Kaolin clay, copper, manganese, nickel and mica. Deposits of cobalt are also thought to be present in the area. Geological surveys indicate that substantial quantities of the mineral deposits are yet to be fully explored and developed in the region due to financial and technical constraints.

Sand Harvesting

It is a key activity in the county mainly undertaken in major dry rivers such as Voi river. The major sites include Mambura Vision sand harvesting along Mto Mwagodi, Taita Semi-Arid multipurpose along Voi river, Mwakajo Darajani Silc at Ghazi, Wacha Wose Ngulia Youth sand harvesting Group at Ndii, Kidasi Self Help Group at Kishushe, Paranga Education & Micro Enterprises Group at Paranga area, Mwareri sand harvesting at Kishushe, Mengo sand harvesting at Kishamba and Msanganyiko sand harvesting at Mengo Mwatate

Ballast & Quarry

The major quarry and ballast sites in the County include: Mwashoti ballast crushing along Taveta road near Lwalenyi ranch, building blocks at Timboni in Taveta,
Gimba stone crushing at Gimba Saghalla, Kamtonga ballast crushing near Lwalenyi ranch, Ballast crushing at Josa old road, old Bulkam quarry and Building stones at Timbo ya Mzungu.The County has immense potential to reap economic gains from tourism activities. There exists a wide range of tourist attractions in Taita Taveta, with the County priding itself in being home to Tsavo East and Tsavo West National Parks.

In addition to the scenery, the parks are swarming with wildlife and birdlife, whilst also being home to indigenous forests with rare tree species. The northern part of Tsavo West has a rolling volcanic landscape carpeted in long grass and dense bush. Here, the main attractions include volcanoes, lava flows, caves and Mzima Springs. Tourist activities in the park comprise of game viewing, camping, cave exploration and underwater hippo and fish-watching. Tsavo East, on its part, offers a vast and untapped arena of arid bush, accentuated by the azure and emerald meandering of Galana River. It is guarded by the limitless lava reaches of Yatta plateau and patrolled by some of the largest elephant herds in Kenya.
Other attractions include Aruba dam (visited by thousands of animals), Mudanda rock that towers above a natural dam; Lugards Falls, which feature bizarrely-eroded rocks through which the waters of the Galana River plunge into foaming rapids and crocodile –infested pools; and the heat shimmering end of Yatta Plateau, the longest lava flow in the world at 300 kilometres in length, an ornithological paradise that attracts migrating birds from all over the world. These include goshawks, buffalo weaver and palm nut vultures, African skimmers; other birds are weaverbirds, sunbirds, kingfisher and hornbills.

The County is dotted by the spectacular Taita Hills comprising of Sagalla, Kasigau, and Dawida massifs, with Dawida being the largest and tallest of the three at an altitude of 2,208 meters above sea level at Vuria peak, the highest point in coast region. The other three main peaks are at Dawida massif are Iyale, Wesu, and Susu.

On top of forming perfect spots for rock climbing and campsites, the hills are known for their moist forests with a unique biodiversity (fauna and flora). More than 20 endemic species of African violets (e.g. Saintpaulia teitensis) occur exclusively here. Also, the Taita Thrush and the Taita Apalis are endemic bird species found here. The Taita Falcon and the Taita Fiscal were first discovered at the hills but occur elsewhere too.

Specifically, the Tsavo East / West national parks boast of a number of tourist attractions, where visitors view game and are provided with scenic sites prime for picnics and viewing of aquatic life. These include Mzima Springs, Shetani Lava, Shaimu Hills, 3 Sisters Hills, Mudanda Rock, Luggards Falls, Aruba Dam and Lodge, Chyulu Hills, Yatta Plateau, not to mention the different species of wildlife, including the world-acclaimed “big five” (lions, elephants, buffaloes, leopards.

Finance and Economic Planning

The finance and economic planning department cater across all the other departments. Through the department all the strategic planning and goals of the entire county to realization. Co8ugordinates County government departments/entities in the preparation of the annual County budget. It is the responsibility of the department to initiate and guide all sectors to prepare their budgets. The department also provides Accounting, Auditing, IT, Insurance, Pensions, Procurement. It works towards Implementing Financial and Economic policies in the county, annual budget preparation, Resource mobilization, Managing County Government’s public debt, and other obligations & developing debt control framework.

Health and sanitation

The county has the vision to be a county with the highest level of quality healthcare for socio-economic productivity. The county has seen a need to eliminate communicable diseases and conditions including HIV and AIDS, MALARIA, and TB to do so the county has come up with strategies such as Through County regulations review and enforcement, increased staffing, capacity building and infrastructure development.

Halting and reversing the rising burden of non-communicable disease and conditions such as Diabetes, Hypertension, Cervical and Prostate Cancers, by improving awareness of NCDs risk factors, strengthening screening programs, prevention and treatment. Taita Taveta is a first growing county thanks to devolution. It has several health cares centres where you can get medical attention. Whether you are in towns or rural areas, you can access a private or public health facility.

The County has five public Level-4 hospitals. These include Moi County Refferal hospital in Voi, Wesu district hospital in Wundanyi and Taveta district hospital. These have bed capacities of 112, 60 and 108 respectively. The other two are Mwatate and Wundanyi sub-district hospitals which have a bed capacity of 19 and 18 respectively. The total bed capacity for Level-4 facilities is 317. In addition, there are 16 public health centers which fall under Level-3 category, with eight of these having a combined bed/cots capacity of 81. In this category are the four model health centers constructed in the four constituencies under the Economic Stimulus Programme (ESP). These are Maungu Model Health Centre (MHC) in Voi, Bura MHC in Mwatate, Mgange MHC in Wundanyi and Rekeke MHC in Taveta. There are no health centers run under private practice or by missions or NGOs.

There are also 36 Level-2 facilities in the County. Only three of these admit patients, with beds capacity of only seven. Kitobo dispensary has only one bed, while Manyani and Kiwalwa dispensaries have three beds each. The total bed capacity for public health facilities therefore comes to 405.
There are two other facilities in the County that admit patients. These are the St. Joseph Shelter of Hope, which is mission-owned, and the privately-owned Riflot medical Centre. They have a bed capacity of 25 and 18 respectively. The former is within Voi town while the latter is about one kilometer from the town center on your way to Nairobi City along the Mombasa-Nairobi highway. Total bed capacity available in the County in all the facilities is therefore 440. The average distance to the nearest health facility for Taita Taveta residents is 5Km.

The county has 696 health personnel who include 7 medical consultants ,31 general medical officers 69 clinical officers and 363 nurses spread across public health facilities. There is however a shortage of 1062 heath personnel who will ensure quality of health services. With an estimated population of 381210, the doctor-population ratio stands at 1: 19,138, falling short by far, of the 1:600 standard set by the World Health Organization (WHO). Even inclusion of clinical officers does not lead to improvement of the situation greatly, as the ratio comes to 1:
5,020. The Nurse-population ratio stands at 1:1,142.

Sanitation

The majority of households in the County use pit latrines, which are 75.8% of total number of
toilet facilities. 67.4% of these are covered pit latrines. The Ventilated Improved Pit (VIP) latrines form 4.5% of total toilet facilities. The other main type of facility is flush toilets, which accounts for 5.8%. An estimated 63,981 (about 86%) of the total households in the County have access to toilet facilities while about 14% of households do not have any kind of toilet facility.
The farm/garden accounts for the largest garbage/waste disposal type at 44.1%, followed by garbage pits at 23.7%, burning at 22.1%, public garbage heaps at 6.4%, collection by county government at 2.4%, and collection by private firms at 0.3%. The county government is playing a more active role in garbage collection to make the environment more habitable.