NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 15 \u2013 The National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NACADA) has ordered the immediate closure of 15 rehabilitation facilities across the country following a nationwide inspection that uncovered serious violations posing risks to patients.<\/p>\n
In a statement, NACADA Chief Executive Officer Anthony Omerikwa said the closures followed a Rapid Results Initiative (RRI) inspection conducted in November 2025, during which 236 treatment and rehabilitation facilities were assessed across 36 counties by a multi-agency government team.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe inspection found that only 135 facilities met the required standards and were fully accredited, offering a combined residential bed capacity of nearly 3,800,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese centres, many of which provide Level 3 residential services, were described by the Authority as the backbone of Kenya\u2019s addiction treatment and recovery response.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, he pointed out that 30 facilities were denied accreditation, while the 15 shut down were found to have critical safety and operational failures, including the use of expired medicines, poor hygiene standards, unsafe buildings, and a lack of qualified medical personnel.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn additional 56 facilities were cited for compliance gaps and will remain under close monitoring as they work to meet regulatory requirements.Beyond enforcement, the inspection exposed deep systemic challenges in Kenya\u2019s rehabilitation landscape.\u201d<\/p>\n
He noted that the majority of accredited facilities are privately owned, making quality inpatient treatment unaffordable for many families. <\/p>\n
He also raised concern over the shortage of public outpatient and community-based services, as well as a severe lack of specialised rehabilitation programmes for women and adolescents.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese findings come against the backdrop of a growing treatment demand,\u201d he said, noting that more than 1.3 million Kenyans require treatment and rehabilitation services for alcohol and drug use disorders, according to the latest national survey.<\/p>\n
He stated that the outcomes reinforce the urgency of the Presidential directive to establish at least one rehabilitation centre in every county.<\/p>\n
He called on county governments to prioritise investment in public, accessible treatment facilities and urged development partners to support community-based and specialised rehabilitation services.<\/p>\n
\u201cA strong and inclusive continuum of care is essential to ensure every Kenyan can access recovery, restoration and reintegration,\u201d he said. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 15 \u2013 The National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NACADA) has ordered the immediate closure of 15 rehabilitation facilities across the country following a nationwide inspection that uncovered serious violations posing risks to patients. In a statement, NACADA Chief Executive Officer Anthony Omerikwa said the closures followed a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-128708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128708\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}