Contribution to Millennium Development Goals:

•    Goal 4 – Reduce Child Mortality
•    Goal 5 – Improve Maternal Health
•    Goal 6 – Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases


Community Health Strategy

Kenya’s second National Health Sector Strategic Plan (NHSSP II – 2005–2010) defined a new approach to the way the sector will deliver health care services to Kenyans – the Kenya Essential Package for Health (KEPH).

KEPH introduced six life-cycle cohorts and six service delivery levels. One of the key innovations of KEPH is the recognition and introduction of level 1 services, which are aimed at empowering Kenyan households and communities to take charge of improving their own health.

The strategy sets an ambitious target of reaching 16 million Kenyans (3.2 million households) in the next four years.

It envisages building the capacity of households not only to demand services from all providers, but to know and progressively realize their rights to equitable, good quality health care.

The strategy introduces innovative approaches for accomplishing these challenging but realizable targets. The approaches include:

• Establishing a level 1 care unit to serve a local population of 5,000 people.
• Instituting a cadre of well trained Community-Owned Resource Persons (CORPs) who will each provide level 1 services to 20 households.
• Supporting every 25 CORPs with a Community Health Extension Worker.
• Ensuring that the recruitment and management of CORPs is carried out by village and facility health committees.

Kipkelion District

The Ministry of Health Kipkelion District has taken on the Community Health Strategy and is piloting its implementation in partnership with the key stakeholders in the District.  FOL is one of these stakeholders and we are supporting the MOH in the rollout.


“Healthy Village”

By creating ‘Healthy Villages’ the Kenyan Ministry of Health hope to implement the Strategy. It is a combination of community needs analysis, existing capacity assessment and baseline survey – identified & owned by the villages themselves via “Healthy Village” committees.

Elements of a Healthy Village:

• Education for health
• Local disease control
• Expanded programmes on immunisation
• Maternal and child health/family planning
• Essential drugs supply
• Nutrition and food production
• Treatment of minor Ailments
• Safe water supply and environmental sanitation

Links:
>    Public Health Field Days
>    Essential Obstetric Care
>    Ndubusat Bethel Medical Clinic
>    Healthy Village Concept