This programme is based in Siaya. It was started with the Relief, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Project whose overall goal was to bring resilience to displaced and dispossessed victims of post election violence by relieving them of pain and saving endangered lives by:
Providing food and non-food items (relief and rehabilitation) to the Internally Displaced People and Returnees in Siaya district by mid April 2008.
Providing counseling and trauma healing services to the Internally Displaced People and Returnees in the district by the end of April 2008.
Resettling the Internally Displaced People and Returnees in Siaya district by end of March 2008.
Supporting and facilitating local peace initiatives, reconciliation and to enhance peaceful coexistence.
The Relief, Rehabilitation and Resettlement project targeted the Internally Displaced People (IDPs) / Returnees who experienced traumatic events, lost their property and close relatives or loved ones following the violent skirmishes that erupted throughout the country.
Activities
Currently, SOPA is facilitating for the acquisition of medical equipment in partnership with Ogra foundation and in collaboration with local hospitals based in Boro and kalenyjuok.The project will be implemented at village level in Ojwando “A” covering 14 villages for ease of access to primary health care services.
Fourteen (14) community health workers will be trained on Syndromic management practices which require broad based spectrum antibiotics for the management and treatment of sexually transmitted infections / diseases (STIs and STDs), Typhoid, and other bacterial infections, Malaria and other ailments that do not require prescriptive medication. Each village shall have one community health worker (CHW). They shall facilitate dispensation of drugs to the patients (community) according to the doctors’ advice and for follow-up activities. The CHW will also be trained on preventive health care to. They will be expected to train their community members on the same.
Additionally, the Community Health workers (CHWs) shall also be trained on entrepreneurial skills and equipped with medical kits proportionate to the identified medical cases at village levels. The kits will be given to them on credit basis. They will sell the drugs at an agreed cost to help them meet some of their basics needs since they will be providing voluntary services to the community. This will enable patients to access affordable medication at the village level, reducing the long distances currently covered to reach the existing health institutions. CHWs will be supported by the community health center towards effective discharge of their responsibilities.
(14) Traditional Birth Attendants (TBA) will also be trained to provide prenatal health care to expectant mothers. They will work in their respective village within Ojwando ‘A’. This will go along way into reducing infant mortality by early diagnosis of complications and use of hygienic methods of infant delivery.
The Boro Dispensary currently managed by Ministry of Heath (MOH) will be upgraded with the provision of putting up a children and the female ward, minor surgery room, a pharmacy to aid diagnosis and appropriate treatment, 40 beds to provide in patient service as well as energy saving kitchen to ensure that patients are provided with nutritious feeding. staff quarters and laundry room. All the increased capacities of this health centre will be augmented with increase in personnel by MOH.
The existing facility at Kalenjuok village, which is not utilized, shall be equipped to establish a local dispensary to provide efficient and effective primary healthcare services. These will be augmented by procurement of equipment - solar panels, microscopes, computer and furniture for effective functioning of the health centre. In collaboration with the ministry of health, the medical staff – clinical officers and community health nurses, laboratory technician and pharmacist shall be seconded to the health centre by Ministry of Health in liaison with the District health office. A village health committee will be established to co-manage the facility with the technical medical staff, to be provided by the Ministry of Health.
Creation of strong and functional structures at village levels: - A local health committee shall be elected by the community and trained to facilitate management of the project at village levels, while the capacity of the current management committee of Boro dispensary will be enhanced strengthened through additional training.
Recruitment and training of the Community Health Workers in: -
Syndromic Management- as a sustainable management of common viral and bacterial infections rife in the community.
Entrepreneurship skills - as the means of empowering the CHWs beyond the project cycle. Entrepreneurship skills acquired by the CHWs will be essential for the efficient running of village-based pharmacies. Each Community Health Worker will have a drug kit loaned to him/her. Community members are conversant with the current cost sharing system in which they pay a fee for diagnosis and treatment drugs. In the proposed system, the CHWs will be selling the drugs at an agreed price. This will reduce the distance and facilitate follow up of patients that need to take drugs for an extended period of time. The proceeds from the sale of drugs will be used for replenishment of the medical kit, while the profits will be used to compensate the CHWs. This will ensure sustainability of the project.
Establishing a functioning dispensary at the Kalenyjuok Village. At Kalenyjuok village, the community, through self help activities and devolved funds have put a building specifically for use as dispensary. However, the facility is non-functional because of lack of personnel and, medicines and equipment. The upgrading of this facility shall entail seeking approval, authorisation of the MOH and support of the local community. The upgrading shall entail renovation, minor repairs and additional room to set up a laboratory, consultation room and emergency observation room (infirmary), a pharmacy, treatment room, and the provision of medicines including ARVs. The government shall provide the personnel and the village health committee will manage the facility.
Upgrading of the Boro Dispensary to Health Centre
There is currently an incomplete male ward building with the roof lacking at the centre. This centre needs to be upgraded in terms of additional facilities like building for kitchen, staff quarters, Laundry, children and the female ward, minor surgery room and a pharmacy laboratory, equipments and medicines and beds to accommodate in patients, water facilities, incinerator. This will have direct impact on the community because patients from the outlying areas do not need to travel long distances to Siaya District hospital to get proper healthcare.
Training of community health workers and Traditional Birth Attendants
There is need for training of community Health workers (CHWs) and Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs). This will help in provision of primary health care in terms of promotion community awareness of health problems that face them and the means to eradicate them
Improve on community ways of making the available water and sanitation facilities hygienic
The community will be trained on methods of making water safe through the community health workers who will carry out the awareness programme both in schools and the community itself on common methods of making water safe for consumption. Sanitation will be improved by encouraging the construction and proper use of pit latrines, rubbish pits and dish racks in every homestead.
Community organized and sensitised health issues
The participation of the local community is fundamental in realising the success and sustainability of the project. Their involvement from the formulation to the implementation level is critical for the project. The community as a whole will benefit by owning the project through participation in decision-making. At the end of the project cycle the community will sustain the project on their own.
Community groups trained on primary healthcare
Just as primary health care is a fundamental basic human right, procedure for administration and dissemination of information regarding the primary health care is crucial. Therefore, media of access to the larger population at the village will be empowered to provide relevant information.
Granted accessibility to promotive, preventive and curative health services
The purpose of the project is to try by all means to help the community solve their own health problems. This is to be achieved not only through curative interventions but also through promotive and preventive strategies. The whole community will benefit by living healthy lives by possessing knowledge of preventive measures of disease control hence saving money and prolonging their lives.
Health workers trained in syndromic management and entrepreneurship
The training in consultation with the MOH will be based on diagnosis and treatment of common ailments such as STIs, malaria, typhoid and diarrhoea caused by bacterial and viral infections. Administration of antibiotics for selective diseases will be dispensed through CHWs. Other cases can be advised to seek further medical care.
Entrepreneurship skills acquired by CHWs would enable them bring medical services closer to the community and for the sustainability of the project. They shall be given medical kit on loan, sell of the drugs to the community in line with identified health needs according to the set price. These groups shall be responsible to the project through the local health committees. Traditional Birth Attendants (TBA) will also be trained on hygienic and delivery infant delivery methods.
The community health workers (CHW) and Traditional Birth Attendants will benefit through skill acquired in syndromic management and hygienic and modern child delivery methods respectively.
Improved service delivery to the community: - poor health services rendered to the community owing to the distance and poor state of infrastructure has been for many years a serious set back in the project area hence the intervention. It is our goal to reverse this trend. Every community member will benefit by saving time of accessing health care services hence saving lives. Time and money saved will be utilized on important economic activities.
Improved water and sanitation: - The community will be able to access safe water and proper sanitation, which will improve their hygienic standards, hence reduces the likelihood of contracting waterborne diseases.
Seeds Of Peace Africa (SOPA) International Location: Lenana Road - North Star Building Adress:P O Box 53958 Nairobi, Kenya Email: info@seedsofpeaceafrica.com Tel: +254(0)20 3864161/2 Fax: 3864162
