Kenya’s population has risen to about 35 million. This has placed a tremendous strain on the health system already constrained from soaring rates of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
AMREF is working with a diverse range of communities from urban slums in Nairobi, remote rural areas in the north-east and south, to lake regions in the west and coastal region in the east.
Major health challenges
Kenya is currently facing a health crisis. A rapidly increasing population, an under funded health sector, and countrywide shortage of skilled health workers means that mortality rates in Kenya remain high and continue to rise – particularly among women and children in disadvantaged communities.
The public health service is often beyond the reach of those living in remote rural areas or urban slums. The community health facilities are often under-resourced and staffed by few, inadequately trained and overworked health workers. Effective health care is hindered by mismanagement, low staff morale, and a disconnect between the communities’ needs and the health services available.
Most doctors in Kenya gravitate towards cities with large hospitals. Many are abandoning public practice to work in private clinics, others leaving Kenya to work overseas. As a result, community health centres in remote locations suffer an acute shortage of trained professionals.
AIDS is the leading cause of lost productivity in Kenya. About 5.9 per cent of the population or 1.2 million people in Kenya are currently infected with HIV.
AMREF is:
- Upgrading the skills of 22,000 enrolled nurses using an innovative e-learning programme.
- Improving health care for nomadic people in Turkana by training community health workers among nomadic groups and providing mobile health clinics along migratory routes.
- Improving children’s health in 247 primary schools by encouraging children to use proper toilets and wash their hands in clean water, and providing the means for them to do this.
- Providing anti-retroviral drugs to 1,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in Kibera slum and improving their lives through community outreach and HIV support groups
- Reducing eye diseases such as trachoma in Kajiado district by developing health education materials that are relevant to the Maasai people.