Turkana West, Kenya 29 March 2021 – UN-Habitat together with NEC XON, a private corporation offering information technology solutions globally and Peace Winds Japan (PWJ), an emergency humanitarian and development assistance NGO recently installed a thermography camera at the Kalobeyei Settlement Community Centre.  

The camera detects the body temperature of individuals entering the centre, which was set up to promote integration of refugee and host communities. Funded by the Government of japan, it offers library services, vocational training, and green house farming, in addition to hosting community dialogues and meetings.  

Since COVID-19 was first reported in Kenya in early 2020, UN-Habitat has been providing support to over 200,000 refugees and asylum seekers living in the Kakuma Refugee Camp and Kalobeyei Integrated Settlement in Kenya’s Turkana County.

UN-Habitat provided technical expertise to support the planning and mapping of quarantine centres, and temporary hospital facilities to increase the level of COVID-19 preparedness. Once the first cases were reported, UN-Habitat supported the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR in the use of GPS tools to map reported cases and investigate potential outbreak zones. Training in the operation and maintenance of the thermography camera was provided for workers at the centre prior to installation of the equipment.  

The chairperson of the centre’s management board, John Ekitoe said the camera would help prevent temporary closure of the Centre which would have resulted in  the loss of livelihoods, especially for members of the community carrying out farming activities at the centre.