Public Health Act

Section 1. Short title Section This Act may be cited as the Public Health Act.

Section 2. Interpretation Section the Director-General for health; and

Section 3. Central Board of Health Section 3(1) There shall be established a Central Board of Health (hereinafter referred to as the board), having its seat at Nairobi, which shall consist of the Director-General for health (who shall be Chairperson), a sanitary engineer, or such person as may be appointed by the Cabinet Secretary to perform the duties of sanitary engineer, a secretary, and such other person or persons not exceeding six (three of whom shall be medical practitioners) as are appointed from time to time by the Cabinet Secretary. Section 3(2) In the absence of the Director-General for health the board shall elect a Chairperson from the members present. [L.N. 187/1956, Sch., L.N. 172/1960, Sch., Act No. 21 of 2017 , s. 70.]

Section 4. Appointments to be gazetted Section The names of all members appointed to the board shall be forthwith notified in the Gazette and any number of the Gazette containing a notice of any such appointment shall be deemed sufficient evidence thereof for all purposes.

Section 5. Filling vacancies Section The Cabinet Secretary shall, as soon as possible, fill up vacancies occurring in the board, but the board shall continue to exercise its powers as long as there shall remain on the board at least five members of whom the Director-General for health is one. [L.N. 187/1956, Sch., L.N. 172/1960, Sch., Act No. 21 of 2017 , s. 70.]

Section 6. Substitute members Section If any member of the board is at any time prevented by absence or other cause from acting, the Cabinet Secretary may appoint some other person to replace such member until he returns or is able to resume his functions. [L.N. 187/1956, Sch., L.N. 172/1960, Sch.]

Section 7. Rules as to meetings of board, etc. Section The Cabinet Secretary may make rules as to the convening and holding meetings of the board, the quorum thereof, the procedure thereat, allowances payable to members thereof and the circumstances in which any member shall vacate his membership. [L.N. 188/1956, Sch., L.N. 173/1960, Sch.]

Section 8. Functions of board Section The functions of the board shall be to advise the Cabinet Secretary upon all matters affecting the public health, and particularly upon all matters mentioned in subsection (2) of section 10 . [Act No. 28 of 1961 , Sch., L.N. 256/1963, 4th Sch.]

Section 9. Appointment and duties of officers Section 9(1) There shall from time to time be appointed a Director-General for health, a Deputy Director-General for health, assistant directors of medical services, medical officers of health, assistant medical officers of health, medical officers, pathologists, health inspectors, port health officers and such other officers as may be deemed necessary. Section 9(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), any municipal council may, with the approval of the Cabinet Secretary, and shall if so directed by the Cabinet Secretary for the time being responsible for Local Government with the approval of the Cabinet Secretary, appoint for its area a medical officer of health and such deputy and assistant medical officers of health and such health inspectors as it may deem necessary. Section 9(3) The Cabinet Secretary, in consultation with the Cabinet Secretary for the time being responsible for Local Government, may prescribe the qualifications to be held by, the mode and terms of engagement of, and the duties to be performed by, all or any of the officers and inspectors referred to in subsection (1). Section 9(4) Every medical officer and every medical...

Section 10. Functions of Medical Department Section 10(1) There shall be a department, to be known as the Medical Department, which shall be under the control of the Director-General for health. Section 10(2) The functions of the Medical Department shall be, subject to the provisions of this Act, to prevent and guard against the introduction of infectious disease into Kenya from outside; to promote the public health and the prevention, limitation or suppression of infectious, communicable or preventable disease within Kenya; to advise and direct local authorities in regard to matters affecting the public health; to promote or carry out researches and investigations in connexion with the prevention or treatment of human diseases; to prepare and publish reports and statistical or other information relative to the public health; and generally to carry out in accordance with directions the powers and duties in relation to the public health conferred or imposed by this Act. Section 10(3) It shall be the duty of the department to obtain and publish periodically such information regarding infectious disease and other health matter in Kenya, and such procurable information regarding epidem...

Section 11. Power to direct inquiries Section The Cabinet Secretary may, on the advice of the board or of the Medical Department, cause to be made such inquiries as he may see fit in relation to any matters concerning the public health in any place. [Act No. 28 of 1961 , Sch.]

Section 12. Powers of persons directed to make inquiries Section When an inquiry is directed to be made by the Cabinet Secretary, the person directed to make the same shall have free access to all books, plans, maps, documents and other things relevant to the inquiry, and shall have in relation to witnesses and their examination and the production of documents similar powers to those conferred upon magistrates by the Criminal Procedure Code ( Cap. 75 ), and may enter and inspect any building, premises or place the entry or inspection whereof appears to him requisite for the purpose of such inquiry. [Act No. 28 of 1961 , Sch.]

Section 13. General duties of health authorities Section It shall be the duty of every health authority to take all lawful, necessary and, under its special circumstances, reasonably practicable measures for preventing the occurrence or dealing with any outbreak or prevalence of any infectious, communicable or preventable disease, to safeguard and promote the public health and to exercise the powers and perform the duties in respect of the public health conferred or imposed on it by this Act or by any other law. [L.N. 256/1963, 4th Sch., L.N. 41/1970, Sch.]

Section 14. Proceedings on complaint to board of municipal councils Section 14(1) Whenever complaint is made to the board that the public health in any locality is endangered by the failure or refusal on the part of any municipal council to exercise its powers or perform the duties devolving upon it under this Act or any other Act which it is its duty to enforce, the Cabinet Secretary on the recommendation of the board, if satisfied after due inquiry that the municipal council has been guilty of the alleged default, may make an order directing the municipal council to perform its duty in the matter of such complaint, and prescribing a time for such performance. Section 14(2) If the duty is not performed within the time prescribed in the order, the Cabinet Secretary may appoint some person to perform the duty, and shall by order direct that the expense of performing the same, together with a reasonable remuneration to the person appointed for superintending such performance, and amounting to a sum specified in the order, shall be paid by the municipal council in default, and any order made for the payment of such expenses and costs may be recovered in a court of competent jurisdicti...

Section 15. Cabinet Secretary to be consulted over municipal council by-laws Section The Cabinet Secretary for the time being responsible for Local Government shall, before approving any by-law made by a municipal council affecting public health, obtain the agreement of the Cabinet Secretary for the time being responsible for Health. [L.N. 187/1956, Sch., L.N. 172/1960, Sch., L.N. 256/1963, 4th Sch., L.N. 41/1970, Sch.]

Section 16. Provisions of Act in relation to other Acts Section 16(1) Except as is specially provided in this Act, the provisions of this Act shall be deemed to be in addition to and not in substitution for any provisions of any other Act which are not in conflict or inconsistent with this Act. Section 16(2) If the provisions of any earlier Act are in conflict or inconsistent with this Act, the provisions of this Act shall prevail.

Section 7A. Committees Section The board may appoint committees, whether of its own members or otherwise, to carry out general or specific functions as may be specified by the board and may delegate to any such committee such of its powers as the board may deem appropriate. [Act No. 15 of 1990 , s. 2.]

Section 7B. Establishment of district health management boards Section 7B(1) There shall be established a district health management board in each district which shall be charged with responsibility of overseeing the running of Government health institutions in that district. Section 7B(2) The Cabinet Secretary may make rules as to the composition of the district health management boards, the convening and holding of meetings of the boards, the procedure thereat, allowances payable to members thereof and the circumstances in which any member shall vacate his membership. [Act No. 15 of 1990 , s. 2.]

Section 17. Application of Part Section 17(1) The provisions of this Act, unless otherwise expressed, shall, so far as they concern notifiable infectious diseases, apply to smallpox, plague, cholera, scarlatina or scarlet fever, typhus fever, diphtheria or membranous croup, measles, whooping-cough, erysipelas, puerperal fever (including septicaemia, pyaemia, septic pelvic cellulitis or other serious septic condition occurring during the puerperal state), enteric or typhoid fever (including para-typhoid fever), epidemic cerebro-spinal meningitis or cerebro-spinal fever, acute poliomyelitis, leprosy, anthrax, glanders, rabies, malta fever, sleeping sickness or human trypanosomiasis, beri-beri, yaws and all forms of tuberculosis which are clinically recognizable apart from reaction to the tuberculin test. Section 17(2)(a) declare that any infectious disease other than those specified in subsection (1) shall be notifiable diseases under this Act; Section 17(2)(b) declare that only such provisions of this Act as are mentioned in such notice shall apply to any notifiable infectious disease; Section 17(2)(c) restrict the provisions of this Act, as regards the notification of any disease,...

Section 18. Notification of infectious diseases Section 18(1)(a) the head of the family to which such inmate (in this Act referred to as the patient) belongs, and in his default the nearest relatives of the patient present in the building or in their default the person in charge of or in attendance on the patient, and in default of any such person the occupier of the building, shall, as soon as he becomes aware that the patient is suffering from any notifiable infectious disease to which this Act applies, send notice thereof to the nearest medical officer of health; Section 18(1)(b) every medical practitioner attending on or called in to visit the patient shall forthwith on becoming aware that the patient is suffering from any notifiable infectious disease to which this Act applies send the nearest medical officer of health a certificate stating the name of the patient, the situation of the building and the notifiable infectious disease from which, in the opinion of such medical practitioner, the patient is suffering; and shall also inform the head of the household or the occupier of the premises or any person in attendance on such patient of the infectious nature of the disease an...

Section 19. Fees for certificates Section The health authority shall pay to every medical practitioner, other than a Government medical officer, for each certificate duly sent by him in accordance with this Act a fee of four shillings if the case occurs in his private practice. [L.N. 256/1963, 4th Sch., L.N. 41/1970, Sch.]

Section 20. Manner of sending notices and certificates Section A notice or certificate to be sent to a medical officer of health in pursuance of this Act may be sent by being delivered to the officer or being left at his office or residence, or may be sent by post addressed to him at his office or his residence.

Section 21. Inspection of infected premises and examination of persons suspected to be suffering from infectious disease Section A medical officer of health may at any time enter and inspect any premises in which he has reason to believe that any person suffering or who has recently suffered from any infectious disease is or has recently been present, or any inmate of which has recently been exposed to the infection of any infectious disease, and may medically examine any person in such premises for the purpose of ascertaining whether such person is suffering or has recently suffered from any such disease.

Section 22. Health authority to cause premises to be cleansed and disinfected Section 22(1) Where any medical officer of health is of opinion that the cleansing and disinfecting of any building or part thereof, and of any articles therein likely to retain infection, would tend to prevent or check infectious disease, it shall be his duty to give notice in writing to the owner or occupier of such building or part thereof, specifying the steps to be taken to cleanse and disinfect such building or part thereof and articles within a time specified in such notice. Section 22(2) If the person to whom notice is so given fails to comply therewith, he shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding two hundred shillings for every day during which he continues to make default; and the health authority or medical officer of health may cause such building or part thereof and articles to be cleansed and disinfected, and may recover the expenses incurred from the owner or occupier in default as a civil debt recoverable summarily. Section 22(3) Where the owner or occupier of any such building or part thereof is from poverty or otherwise unable, in the opinion of the health authori...

Section 23. Destruction of infected bedding, etc. Section Any health authority may direct the destruction of any building, bedding, clothing or other articles which have been exposed to infection from any infectious disease, or in the opinion of the medical officer of health are infected, and may give compensation for the same. [L.N. 256/1963, 4th Sch., L.N. 41/1970, Sch.]

Section 24. Provision of means of disinfection Section Any health authority may provide a proper place, with all necessary apparatus and attendance, for the disinfection of bedding, clothing or other articles which have become infected, and may cause any articles brought for disinfection to be disinfected free of charge, and any such direction shall be sufficient authority for a medical officer of health or sanitary inspector or person authorized thereto to destroy the same. [L.N. 256/1963, 4th Sch., L.N. 41/1970, Sch.]

Section 25. Provision of conveyance for infected persons Section Any health authority may provide and maintain a carriage or carriages suitable for the conveyance of persons suffering from any infectious disease, and may pay the expenses of conveying therein any person so suffering to a hospital or other place of destination. [L.N. 256/1963, 4th Sch., L.N. 41/1970, Sch.]

Section 26. Removal to hospital of infected persons Section Where, in the opinion of the medical officer of health, any person certified by a medical practitioner to be suffering from an infectious disease is not accommodated or is not being treated or nursed in such manner as adequately to guard against the spread of the disease, such person may, on the order of the medical officer of health, be removed to a hospital or temporary place which in the opinion of the medical officer of health is suitable for the reception of the infectious sick and there detained until such medical officer of health or any medical practitioner duly authorized thereto by the local authority is satisfied that he is free from infection or can be discharged without danger to the public health. [L.N. 256/1963, 4th Sch., L.N. 41/1970, Sch.]

Section 27. Isolation of persons who have been exposed to infection Section Where, in the opinion of the medical officer of health, any person has recently been exposed to the infection, and may be in the incubation stage, of any notifiable infectious disease and is not accommodated in such manner as adequately to guard against the spread of the disease, such person may, on a certificate signed by the medical officer of health, be removed, by order of a magistrate and at the cost of the local authority of the district where such person is found, to a place of isolation and there detained until, in the opinion of the medical officer of health, he is free from infection or able to be discharged without danger to the public health, or until the magistrate cancels the order.

Section 28. Penalty for exposure of infected persons and things Section while suffering from any infectious disease, wilfully exposes himself without proper precautions against spreading the said disease in any street, public place, shop, inn or public conveyance, or enters any public conveyance without previously notifying the owner, conductor or driver thereof that he is so suffering; or

Section 29. Penalty for failing to provide for disinfection of public conveyance Section Every owner or driver of a conveyance shall immediately provide for the disinfection of such conveyance after it has to his knowledge conveyed any person suffering from an infectious disease; and if he fails to do so he shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding forty thousand shillings; but no such owner or driver shall be required to convey any persons so suffering until he has been paid a sum sufficient to cover any loss or expenses incurred by him in carrying into effect the provisions of this section. [Act No. 2 of 2002 , Sch.]

Section 30. Penalty for letting infected house Section 30(1) Any person who knowingly lets for hire any dwelling or premises or part thereof in which any person has been suffering from an infectious disease without having the same and all articles therein liable to retain infection efficiently disinfected to the satisfaction of a medical officer of health as testified by a certificate signed by him shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding eighty thousand shillings. Section 30(2) This section shall apply to any owner or keeper of an hotel or boarding- house who lets any room or part thereof to any person. [Act No. 2 of 2002 , Sch.]

Section 31. Duty of person letting house lately infected to give true information

Section 32. Power of municipal council to provide hospital Section 32(1)(a) themselves build such hospitals or places of reception; or Section 32(1)(b) contract for the use of any such hospital or part of a hospital or place of reception; or Section 32(1)(c) enter into any agreement with any person having the management of any hospital, for the reception of the sick inhabitants of their area, on payment of such annual or other sum as may be agreed on. Section 32(2) Deleted by L.N. 41/1970, Sch. [L.N. 41/1970, Sch.]

Section 33. Recovery of cost of maintaining patient in hospital Section Any expenses incurred by a municipal council in maintaining in a hospital, or in a temporary place for the reception of the sick (whether or not belonging to such hospital), a patient who is not a pauper shall be deemed to be a debt due from such patient to the municipal council, and may be recovered from him after his discharge from such hospital or place of reception, or from his estate in the event of his dying in such hospital or place. [L.N. 41/1970, Sch.]

Section 34. Power to provide temporary supply of medicine

Section 35. Formidable epidemic, endemic or infectious diseases Section The provisions of this Act, unless otherwise expressed, in so far as they concern formidable epidemic, endemic or infectious disease, shall be deemed to apply to smallpox, plague, Asiatic cholera, yellow fever, sleeping sickness or human trypanosomiasis and any other disease which the Cabinet Secretary may, by order, declare to be a formidable epidemic disease for the purpose of this Act. [Act No. 28 of 1961 , Sch.]

Section 36. Rules for prevention of disease Section the speedy interment of the dead;

Section 37. Health authority to see to execution of rules Section The health authority of any area within which or part of which any rules made under section 36 of this Act are in force shall do and provide all such acts, matters and things as may be necessary for mitigating any such disease, or aiding in the execution of such rules, or for executing the same, as the case may require; and the health authority or the medical officer of health may from time to time direct any prosecution or legal proceedings for or in respect of the wilful violation or neglect of any such rules. [Act No. 28 of 1961 , Sch., L.N. 256/1963, 4th Sch., L.N. 41/1970, Sch.]

Section 38. Power of entry Section The Director-General for health and his officers shall have power of entry on any premises or vessels for the purpose of executing or superintending the execution of any rules made under section 36 of this Act. [Act No. 28 of 1961 , Sch., Act No. 21 of 2017 , s. 70.]

Section 39.[Repealed by L.N. 41/1970, Sch.]

Section 40. Notification of sickness or mortality in animals suspected of plague Section 40(1) Every person who becomes aware of any unusual sickness or mortality among rats, mice, cats, dogs or other animals susceptible to plague or other formidable epidemic diseases not due to poison or other obvious cause shall immediately report the fact to the medical officer of health. Section 40(2) Any person who fails so to report shall be guilty of an offence. [L.N. 41/1970, Sch.]

Section 41. Medical officers of health to report notification of formidable epidemic diseases by telegraph Section Every medical officer of health shall immediately report to the Director-General for health by telegraph or other expeditious means particulars of every notification received by such medical officer of health of a case or suspected case of any formidable epidemic disease, or of any unusual sickness or mortality in animals made under section 40 of this Act. [L.N. 41/1970, Sch., Act No. 21 of 2017 , s. 70.]

Section 42. Director-General for health may requisition buildings, equipment, etc. Section 42(1) Where an outbreak of any formidable epidemic disease exists or is threatened, it shall be lawful for the Director-General for health to require any person owning or having charge of any land or any buildings or dwellings, not occupied, or any person owning or having charge of tents, transport, bedding, hospital equipment, drugs, food or other appliances, materials or articles urgently required in connection with the outbreak, to hand over the use of any such land or building or to supply or make available any such article, subject to the payment of a reasonable amount as hire or purchase price. Section 42(2) Any person who, without reasonable cause, fails or refuses to comply with any such requirement shall be guilty of an offence. [Act No. 21 of 2017 , s. 70.]

Section 115. Nuisances prohibited Section No person shall cause a nuisance or shall suffer to exist on any land or premises owned or occupied by him or of which he is in charge any nuisance or other condition liable to be injurious or dangerous to health.

Section 116. Local authorities to maintain cleanliness and prevent nuisances Section It shall be the duty of every local authority to take all lawful, necessary and reasonably practicable measures for maintaining its district at all times in clean and sanitary condition, and for preventing the occurrence therein of, or for remedying or causing to be remedied, any nuisance or condition liable to be injurious or dangerous to health, and to take proceedings at law against any person causing or responsible for the continuance of any such nuisance or condition.

Section 117. Health authorities to prevent or remedy danger to health from unsuitable dwellings Section It shall be the duty of every health authority to take all lawful, necessary and reasonably practicable measures for preventing or causing to be prevented or remedied all conditions liable to be injurious or dangerous to health arising from the erection or occupation of unhealthy dwellings or premises, or the erection of dwellings or premises on unhealthy sites or on sites of insufficient extent, or from overcrowding, or from the construction, condition or manner of use of any factory or trade premises, and to take proceedings against any person causing or responsible for the continuance of any such condition. [L.N. 256/1963, 4th Sch., L.N. 41/1970, Sch.]

Section 118. What constitutes nuisance Section 118(1)(a) any vessel, and any railway carriage or other conveyance, in such a state or condition as to be injurious or dangerous to health; Section 118(1)(b) any dwelling or premises or part thereof which is or are of such construction or in such a state or so situated or so dirty or so verminous as to be, in the opinion of the medical officer of health, injurious or dangerous to health, or which is or are liable to favour the spread of any infectious disease; Section 118(1)(c) any street, road or any part thereof, any stream, pool, ditch, gutter, watercourse, sink, water-tank, cistern, water-closet, earth-closet, privy, urinal, cesspool, soak-away pit, septic tank, cesspit, soil-pipe, waste-pipe, drain, sewer, garbage receptacle, dust-bin, dung-pit, refuse-pit, slop-tank, ash-pit or manure heap so foul or in such a state or so situated or constructed as in the opinion of the medical officer of health to be offensive or to be injurious or dangerous to health; Section 118(1)(d) any well or other source of water supply or any cistern or other receptacle for water, whether public or private, the water from which is used or is likely to be...

Section 119. Notice to remove nuisance Section where the nuisance arises from any want or defect of a structural character, or where the dwelling or premises are unoccupied, the notice shall be served on the owner;

Section 120. Procedure if owner fails to comply with notice Section 120(1) If the person on whom a notice to remove a nuisance has been served as aforesaid fails to comply with any of the requirements thereof within the time specified, the medical officer of health shall cause a complaint relating to such nuisance to be made before a magistrate, and such magistrate shall thereupon issue a summons requiring the person on whom the notice was served to appear before his court. Section 120(2) If the court is satisfied that the alleged nuisance exists, the court shall make an order on the author thereof, or the occupier or owner of the dwelling or premises, as the case may be, requiring him to comply with all or any of the requirements of the notice or otherwise to remove the nuisance within a time specified in the order and to do any works necessary for that purpose. Section 120(3) The court may by such order impose a fine not exceeding two hundred shillings on the person on whom the order is made, and may also give directions as to the payment of all costs incurred up to the time of the hearing or making of the order for the removal of the nuisance. Section 120(4) If the court is sati...