Health

The Nyalunya Dispensary in Kisumu is quiet today – about 25 patients are waiting to be served by the three health care workers on duty.  Noline Anyango, 2, and her four-year-old sister are being tested for malaria by a laboratory technician. Noline doesn’t shed a tear as her index finger is pricked. The entire process only takes a few minutes – and Noline and her family are dismissed to the reception area to wait for their results – which will take about 20 minutes.

“I still don’t fully accept my status,” says Vivian Achieng , who has been living with HIV for almost four years. Vivian is one of 200 people waiting for antiretroviral therapy outside Kisumu’s HIV Patient Support Centre on a brisk, Wednesday morning. 
Seeking treatment for HIV is not just a decision; it’s a commitment – one that many people are reluctant to make. Antiretroviral drugs (ARV’s) work to boost the immunity of HIV patients and reduce the risk of opportunistic infections – it’s a complex, life-long treatment that must be strictly adhered to. 

Sharon Cherutich Mutai is a produce vendor at a small but bustling market along the highway connecting Kenya and Uganda through the Great Rift Valley town of Eldoret.  Normally Sharon, who is in her 30s, is busy selling potatoes and vegetables to travelers.  But on this day she has taken time off to attend is a farmers’ field day at Mumberes Farmers' Cooperative Society grounds.

“I decided to come when I heard that there would be free health services,” says Sharon, accompanied by her friend with a small baby.

Monica Wambui, a 37-year-old deaf woman from Nakuru in Kenya, has found a new cause. The 37-year-old mother of four, three boys and a girl, wants to be a trainer so that she can teach people with hearing disability about HIV and AIDS and other issues that affect them.  Wambui was among more than 40 people with disability who attended a workshop organized by the USAID-funded APHIAplus Nuru ya Bonde project in Nakuru.

Mbale Provincial Rural Health Training Center in Western Kenya receives about 120 outpatient cases per day with 41% of the people requiring treatment for malaria.  The Center provides various medical services at a subsidized rate. Thanks to the US President's Malaria Initiative, malaria treatment is free. 

Family planning saves lives, improves health, strengthens communities, and stimulates economic growth and is one of the best investments a country can make in its future. In Kenya, family planning is a key strategy for meeting the Millennium Development Goals and the government is committed to increase the quality, access and utilization of family planning as a critical public health intervention.