Our work in Kenya
Kenya’s population has risen to about 38 million, placing tremendous strain on an already stressed health system dealing with soaring rates of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria.
Across the country, 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 regions in the east.
Major health challenges
Kenya is currently facing a rapidly increasing population, an under funded health sector, and a countrywide shortage of skilled health workers. 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. Community health facilities are often under-resourced and staffed by inadequately trained and overburdened health workers. Effective health care is hindered by mismanagement, low staff morale, and a disconnect between the needs of the community and the health services available.
Most doctors in Kenya gravitate towards cities with large hospitals. Many of them abandon public practice to work in private clinics. Others leave Kenya to work overseas. As a result, community health centers in remote locations suffer an acute shortage of trained professionals.
AIDS is the leading cause of lost productivity in Kenya. About six percent of the population or 1.2 million people in Kenya are currently infected with HIV.
The scope of our work in Kenya
- Upgrading the skills of 22,000 nurses using an innovative e-learning program
- 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 providing proper toilets and encouraging children to use these facilities; also providing clean water for hand-washing
- 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 the Kajiado district by developing health education materials relevant to the Maasai people
