PhD thesis Title Page Final _Richard Juma - Victoria University ...

Women are the most negatively affected by the bad roads and transport
problems. Traditionally, men should not carry loads on their heads;
therefore, women should commute by foot carrying loads on their heads.
When there are emergencies during child delivery, owing to the lack of
qualified midwives, women have to walk long distances to available health
clinics. This is explored below.
4.8.3 Human capital.
Human capital refers to the labour available to the household: it includes
education, skills, and health (Carney 1998). For demographic reasons, the
human capital of households changes constantly. During my fieldwork, I
learnt that a number of Turkana households have suffered serious losses
of people in the immediate past, due to deaths caused by persistent
drought, famine, disease, and war with their neighbouring tribes. When a
family loses the breadwinner, their livelihood platform is seriously
weakened.
One woman, a key informant from Morulem village, captured the impact of
such loss brought about by drought and disease:
Women, children and the old have been the most
affected by drought because they wait at home for what
has been brought by men. We have no health services.
Young girls have problems producing children.
Children have become vulnerable to various diseases
because of malnutrition. Our people and animals have
died (Key Informant Interview 3 rd February 2007,
Morulem village).
The vast majority of people in rural Turkana District have no access to
health services and secondary education. The exception is in areas around
Lodwar (district headquarter), and Lokichogio town near the border of
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