TB training and testing: In February last year, we conducted TB/Pneumonia training. We trained 622 CHVs. And 23029 households sensitized by CHVs on TB/Pneumonia.

After the training, CHVs referred many people to health facilities for TB testing. For instance, Idah from Mwonge community unit in Chuka sub-county came across a one-half-year-old boy who was very weak, had a severe cough, and had stunted growth. The boy had been suffering for some time. After educating the mother on Tuberculosis, she agreed to take the baby to Mwonge dispensary. After visiting the dispensary, the baby was referred to Chuka level five hospital for TB testing. The mother took her to the hospital, and the Tb test was positive. The CHV conducted regular follow-up visits at the Household to make sure the baby was taking medication as required.

In August last year, our field officers visited the community unit for support supervision, and the CHV took the officers to the Household. The field officer and the CHV educated the mother on adherence to the medication and proper nutrition to enable the baby to recover quickly since the baby was relatively weak.

CHV support supervision update: In January this year, the support supervision team was back in the community unit. After visiting other households, Esther, the field officer, made a follow-up visit at Jane’s Household. The baby is strong, can walk, and can feed well. The mother was delighted with the support we provided the community health volunteers.

This week the school-based mobile clinic was at Makuri Primary School. Our team met Tharaka Nithi County Curriculum Support Officer (CSO) Madam Dorothy. The CSO was doing her routine checkup in the school. She was excited to meet the HopeCore staff working in a school because most of the schools she had visited attributed the success and well-being of the students to HopeCore.

The CSO was very appreciative of the kind of work HopeCore is doing in the Schools. Having visited almost all the schools in Tharaka Nithi County, she said she had seen a significant difference between schools in Maara sub-county and schools from the other Sub-Counties. In the schools in Maara sub-county, there is significant behavior change and fewer teenage pregnancies. She has noticed that most schools have handwashing stations with soap and tanks for storing clean treated water. And the teachers have been reporting reduced absenteeism in schools due to waterborne diseases like diarrhea. She was also impressed that we deworm and conduct vision screening, encouraged HopeCore to roll out the program to other sub-counties, and suggested that we have seminars for all students, especially adolescent girls, to reduce the number of teenage pregnancies.

Youth outreach with computer training: Village HopeCore, through the youth program, conducted free one-month computer package training for 14 youths visiting the youth center. The youths were trained in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, internet, and mailings) after which they were awarded certificates of completion.

Some of the youth joined post-secondary institutions, and others sought employment. One of them, Kelvin, was able to secure a job at a local milk collection center as a data clerk. The certificate and the competence in Excel that he got after attending the training helped him secure the job. Kelvin is very thankful to Village HopeCore for organizing the training because he could not have raised the amount needed to pay for the course.

Vision problems addressed: Vision problems affect a child’s achievement in school adversely. Children with eye problems have trouble reading blackboard notes or other classroom presentation materials. Several eye disorders can lead to permanent visual impairment if not identified and treated early by an eye doctor. Vision problems can adversely affect students’ ability to function in and enjoy learning.

Our school-based mobile clinic was in Kianguru Girls last year. 352 students were screened for visual acuity, 20 had abnormal vision and were referred to our monthly vision clinics to see the ophthalmologist. Among them was a form three student Debby, struggling with eye problems since she joined form one. She frequently complained of headaches, and she was always in and out of the hospital. This affected her studies because she would miss many lessons when she was sick. She would find it hard to read from books with small letters. The ophthalmologist recommended that Debby should get glasses to correct her condition. We provided her with free glasses as prescribed by the optometrist.

Last week we met the health champion from the school during the teacher’s training. She was very thankful to HopeCore for providing eight students from the school with eyeglasses and facilitating one girl to undergo a cornea transplant at the city eye hospital. The glasses have been of great help to the students, especially Debby, who can read well with no struggle, the frequent headaches that she was complaining of have ceased, and now she can concentrate on her studies. There has been a significant improvement in her grades.

Written by Vincent Mawira

CHV job aids: Lack of job aids is a factor that can influence community health volunteers' motivation and subsequently affect their performance. The provision of adequate job aids is crucial to CHV's effectiveness. This will help improve their performance as health volunteers.

We ensure our community health volunteers have the essential job aids to make them more productive and efficient. We provide the CHVs with HopeCore branded T-shirts to enhance their credibility and for community members to quickly identify them. The CHVs also receive flipbooks after every training that they use for reference while conducting health education. We provide them with smartphones with data collection tools for easy reporting.

Since we started training the CHVs in Mwimbi, Muthambi, Chuka, and Igmbang'ombe sub-counties last year, we have provided them with eight flipbooks. The CHvs have been having difficulty carrying more than one flipbook during their household visits due to the lack of bags. This week we have been providing them with HopeCore branded bags.

The bags will enable them to carry the flipbooks and their other job aids when conducting household visits. They will be able to educate on various topics in different households. The CHVs are quite excited and are very thankful to HopeCore.

Addressing COVID-19: COVID-19 vaccines are effective and can reduce the risk of getting and spreading the virus that causes COVID-19. Vaccines continue to reduce a person's risk of contracting the virus that causes COVID-19, including the delta variant.

It's essential to provide vaccines to surrounding communities without doctors or clinics. We conduct outreach at the community to reach members of the community who are quite far away from health facilities that have the Covid vaccines. We target areas that have large numbers of people like churches and markets, and also we provide the vaccines on days that people are not working, that is, on Sundays and public holidays

We use community health volunteers in these communities to mobilize the community and HopeCore community health nurses to administer the vaccines, so community members already know and trust the people working at the outreaches. This has helped us administer 2317 doses of the vaccine. The high numbers show how the community has tremendous confidence in the services offered by Village HopeCore.

Most people who have received the vaccine have to travel long distances to get to the health facilities that provide the vaccine. For example, people from Kamwangu have to travel 16 km to Muthambi Health Centre to get the vaccine, or people from Kaare have to travel 13 km to Magutuni Hospital. We have made it easier for people living in these areas and other areas around Mwimbi and Muthambi sub-counties by providing first and second doses nearer to them.

Reaching the community: Only a small proportion of the rural population is within easy reach of a health facility. In addition, many people in the communities are ignorant of the causes of disease and that services to prevent and treat them are available in the health facilities. As a result, many illnesses occur in the community and are not reported.

Community Health Volunteers are instrumental in improving people's health-seeking behaviors, referral of patients, community information flow, and strengthening the link between the community and the health facility.

For instance, so many hypertension patients have been referred by CHVs after the CHVs underwent training this year. The CHVs have been educating the community on high blood pressure during their household visits. They have also been conducting screenings in the community.

Rukindu community unit CHV Catherine shared how the community has gained so much confidence with the CHVs. She is always invited to various forums to conduct health education, especially on hypertension. Every time the local church has a health week, they request Catherine to educate them on various health topics. She is thankful to HopeCore for organizing the training because that has provided her with the knowledge to conduct proper health education. Previously, she struggled to educate on some of the health topics like family planning and hypertension. After the training, she has the correct information to share with the community. The flipbooks provided have been of great help while she is conducting health education.

CHVs on the front lines to find health problems: Community health workers are a vital potential resource for encouraging hygiene behavior change in high-burden, low-income communities. Due to their potential reach and proximity to high-need populations, CHVs contribute to improving community health in many ways by making referrals to health facilities, providing health education, and conducting nutrition surveillance during their household visits.

Community health volunteers come across many different types of conditions in the community during their household visits. Most community members, especially the elderly, are less likely to seek correct medical services in government facilities, self-medicate, or just get medication from nearby chemists. They end up suffering for a long time with conditions that can be treatable. For instance, in the Mwonge community unit in Chuka sub-county, the area CHV Ida met a 48-year-old lady suffering from a chronic wound that had been there for many years. The CHV advised her on the importance of visiting the nearby health facility and that the wound would heal after a short period if well managed. Joy referred her to Mwonge dispensary; when she visited the health facility, she was referred to Chuka level five hospital for specialized treatment. She was treated, and the CHV continued with the follow-ups.

Last week, our field officers conducted support supervision in the community unit, and they visited the household. The lady had wholly recovered, and she appreciated HopeCore for the support and training they are providing to the CHVs.

Written by Vincent Mawira

Contraception allows people to have the number of children they want when they want them. This is everybody’s right under the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights.

Delaying or spacing babies allows women and men to follow education and career goals that may be interrupted by having children. This empowers people and increases their ability to earn more. With fewer children, families are also able to invest more in each child.

27-year-old Janet from Iruma Community unit used Depoprovera for many years after getting her firstborn. After five years, she decided to stop using the family planning method and have another child. Some women will get pregnant the first month after the 90 days, but this isn’t common. Most women will see their fertility return within 5 to 7 months of their last injection. In other words, about two months after that 90-day period ends.

But for Janet, this did not happen. After two years, she was worried that she could not conceive and approached community health field officer Jane Kainyu for advice. She had previously visited the nearby health center, but she could not conceive. In 2019 when the school mobile clinic was in Iruma primary school, Janet visited the clinic (when we used to offer treatment services during the school mobile clinics). She got treatment and advice, and after two months, she conceived. She delivered a baby boy, who is now one year old.

Hypertension: Early detection of high blood pressure is essential. Often referred to as the “silent killer” because it may show no symptoms, high blood pressure puts you at an increased risk for heart disease, heart failure, and stroke, among other things.

Last year 70-year-old Gatune visited our Village-based maternal child health clinic. When we visited Gantaraki community unit, Gatune encountered our clinics during the Home-based MCHs. She wanted to have her blood pressure checked. Community health nurse Dennis Mucheni checked her blood pressure, and it was very high. He also checked for the heartbeat, which was way below normal (40,50). This was alarming, and Dennis referred her to special medical attention. She visited Consolata Hospital in Chuka where she was admitted. Later she was taken to a cardiologist for further management. The cardiologist advised that she should undergo an operation. Gatune underwent a successful operation where she received a pacemaker. She recovered well and carried out her everyday activities.

On the 11th of this month, 21-year Purity brought her five-year eight-month-old daughter Wincasty to our office clinic. Wincasty was having severe cough, fast breathing, and vomiting with oxygen saturations of 82-85%. Makena heard about the Village HopeCore Office clinic from a neighbor who had previously visited our clinic and got treated.

The clinician at our clinic, Felister, diagnosed her with severe pneumonia and urgently referred her to Chuka Level 5 Hospital for specialized treatment. She was asked to pay for lab tests but she did not have the money. She went back home helpless with the sick child, and the next day she was back at our clinic. Felister conducted initial treatment, but the child needed urgent care, and she had to be referred again.

We linked her with Chuka township community health volunteer who was familiar with the processes involved in the hospital.

Wincasty was admitted to the hospital for one week, and Village HopeCore paid for the lab tests and hospitalization fees totaling. She was discharged and is recovering well, and this week, she went back to school. She is looking cheerful and healthy. The mother was moved to tears, and she lacks the words to show her gratitude to HopeCore for helping her daughter get treated.

New Community Health Volunteer inductions: In May this year, we inducted 68 new community volunteers into our CHV program. These were from 8 community units left out, from the initial 21 that we work with. However, they were not very new to Village HopeCore because they have been receiving training from HopeCore for more than a year.

The new CHVs received new smartphones installed with data collection tools so that they can report correct and timely data. The device made their work easier since they did have to use paperwork when doing their reporting

Three months down the line, the CHVs are more motivated and more visible as they don the HopeCore branded T-shirts. The community members have more confidence in them because they mobilize Village-based maternal child health clinics where the under-five children are treated, dewormed, and given vitamin A. The Flipbooks provided have helped them give the correct information when conducting health education in the community.

The CHVs received monthly training, with the recent one being on hypertension. The CHVs also learned how to conduct high blood pressure screening. In August, they have been educating on hypertension during their household visits. There has been an increase in people visiting health facilities to have their blood pressure checked. The training has also made the CHVs more knowledgeable. They can educate better and answer questions from the community members since they had received very little training before. Also, the support supervision has helped improve their work since HopeCore field officers join them as they conduct a household visit.

How CHVs are helping to change negative cultural practices. Traditional cultural practices reflect values and beliefs held by members of a community for periods often spanning generations. Every social grouping in the world has specific traditional cultural practices and beliefs, some of which are beneficial to all members. In contrast, others are harmful to a particular group, such as women and children.

For instance, in Kamwangu community unit, the area community health volunteer John Kimathi met a 23 old lady who had just delivered a healthy baby girl during a routine household visit. After three months, the CHV made a follow-up visit to the household and found that the baby was very weak and malnourished. John referred her to the health center, but the mother declined because she did not believe in modern medicine. She believed the baby was under a spell and just needed prayers.

John had to take some time to explain to her that he was equally religious and there was no harm in seeking health services. She was hesitant, and John had to talk to her husband, who eventually convinced her to take the baby to the nearby health center for a checkup. After three months, she ultimately agreed, and the CHV referred her to Kamwangu dispensary, where the baby was treated, and the mother was advised on proper nutrition for the baby.

The CHV continued with follow-ups to the household, educating them on nutrition and ensuring the baby is immunized, dewormed, and has received vitamin A.

Written by Vincent Mawira