NAIROBI, 25 October 2026. Kenya’s public health officers have suspended a 94-day nationwide strike for 30 days so they can help fight the country’s Ebola outbreak. Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has agreed to facilitate talks.
Key points
- The Kenya Environmental Health and Public Health Practitioners Union, led by Secretary General Brown Ashira, ordered officers, including those at border points and in counties, back to work within 24 hours.
- The union cited mounting Ebola cases. Its officers do the disease surveillance, port-of-entry screening and contact tracing that outbreaks depend on.
- Comprehensive negotiations with the national government are expected within 30 days. A return-to-work formula has been signed with Kitui County, and other counties are expected to follow.
What they want
- Formal recognition of the union and a signed Collective Bargaining Agreement.
- More officers, national postings and paid interns.
- Permanent and pensionable terms for contract and UHC staff.
- Risk allowances for outbreak work.
Duale blamed counties for delays in moving more than 7,400 UHC workers onto payrolls, despite Ksh8.6 billion being allocated for the move.
Why nurses should care
Many nurses in Kenya are among the same UHC contract workers waiting for permanent terms. Nurses at KUTRRH have separately given notice of a strike from 9 November. Any deal reached in these talks could set the pattern for nursing contracts too.
Source: Kenyans.co.ke (25 October 2026).