Health Update - Community Outreaches and Health Workers

The past months have been exciting ones here at the MWCT Health Program, as we continue our outreaches to all the communities of Kuku Group Ranch.  Recently we've been able to visit Olorika, Kuku, Oltiasika, Dip, and Langata Villages.  Most villages we try to visit once per month, though in Kuku Village we aim for twice per month.

Lena meets with a group of CHWs in Langata Village.

During our outreaches we meet with community members and often provide limited medical services and examinations.  We set up an outpatient clinic and dispense deworming medicine to children, as well as offering antenatal care and immunization clinics.  In November we partnered with Kenya's Ministry of Public Health to immunize over 750 children against the measles, and our trachoma campaign in December reached more than 3,400 Maasai.

Oltiasika CHWs prepare for an outreach by organizing supplies.

Each region's Community Health Workers (CHWs) are an invaluable part of our outreaches, working with us before and during the day to ensure a successful event.  Before MWCT's staff arrives, they publicize the outreach throughout their communities, often going door-to-door to spread the news.  They also secure a meeting place, organize supplies, and alert us to any special needs.  At the event itself, they organize attendees, help with evaluations, and arrange for any necessary follow-up actions. 

Steve works with CHWs in Olorika to map bomas in their area using Google Earth.

We've also been using the outreaches to continue our mapping of bomas (household clusters) on Kuku, so that we have a better sense of where people live and how the CHWs can distribute their efforts to best reach  everyone.  The Community Health Workers really enjoy seeing their villages on Google Earth, and are able to quickly group and identify visible bomas.  By having one MWCT staff member work with the CHWs on this mapping while the others conduct the outreach, a single day's work can be extremely productive.  We plan to continue these successful community outreaches throughout the upcoming months, and continue to improve access to healthcare for all the Maasai of Kuku Group Ranch

Our nurse Sam administers immunizations to children in Dip Villlage.

Health Program Update - Community Health Workers

One main outreach of the Health Program is its use of the a network of Community Health Workers (CHWs) to reach all members of the local Maasai community.  These are villagers and citizens who volunteer their time to help the community and are each responsible for a portion of the households in their area, making sure these households have access to the latest updates from the health clinic and follow up regularly with any recommended treatment.  The key to successful outreach by the CHWs is training; this is especially crucial for our planned community-wide survey.

In late July and early August a volunteer from Boston came and stayed with the MWCT, working with us to develop a visual training system for Community Health Workers and beginning the training modules with the CHWs in Iltilal.  Our goal is to train all CHWs on the Group Ranch; the Iltilal CHWs have already completed this process.

The Iltilal Community Health Workers gather for a training session.

The next step in surveying the local community and beginning this outreach is determining which CHWs are responsible for specific parts of the village and making sure no households are missed.  This was the work of this past week, when we met with the CHWs, sat down with maps and Google Earth, and started the work of mapping the village of Iltilal.  It turned out to be an incredibly successful day - we identified nearly all the bomas and households in the village, and the CHWs really enjoyed the mapping process.

This also gave us by far the most accurate Iltilal population estimate since the 2009 census, which we knew was no longer accurate following the extended drought since that time.   The final rough count was 304 households, which equates to roughly 2400 residents.  Furthermore, we were able to identify gaps in coverage by CHWs, and see where we needed to train more to better accommodate the needs of Iltilal.  This process is ongoing, but we've very happy with the recent results!