Faith Otewa – Global Reproductive Health at Duke

OMEGA FOUNDATION MEETING WITH HARUN KODIAGA – HEAD OF PROGRAMS

June 4, 2019June 14, 2019 by Faith OtewaNo Comments

I had the opportunity to meet with Harun, the Head of Programs at the Omega Foundation (OF) at the Kisumu Office. The OF mission is, “to strengthen the capacity of communities to live meaningful lives through integrated health and innovative livelihood solutions” across 12 counties in Kenya: Kisumu, Siaya, Migori, Homa Bay, Busia, Bungoma, Nandi, Uasin-Gishu, Kakamega, Vihiga, and Bomet. OF undertakes various projects including Sexual and Reproductive Health Service Delivery and Advocacy projects funded by Planned Parenthood Global. The projects are being implemented in Kisumu, Siaya, and Homa Bay counties respectively with an objective to increase awareness of, access to, and use of quality family planning (FP) and Post Abortion Care (PAC) services. Twenty facilities in Kisumu are supported in delivery of the services and focus on strengthening the capacity of partners to provide facility-based FP and PAC services and advocate for expansion of Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) rights and services. To achieve their goals, the OF supports provision of...

How Marie Stopes Works to Promote Access to Reproductive Health Services

May 17, 2019May 17, 2019 by Faith OtewaNo Comments

I had the privilege to meet Rose Omia, the Regional Marketing Coordinator for Marie Stopes on March 27th, 2019. Marie Stopes is a non-governmental organization focused on sexual and reproductive health and provides contraception, safe abortion, and post-abortion services. The services are offered through a network of clinics and mobile outreach clinics to enhance accessibility to as many people as possible. Marie Stopes delivers services through its AMUA Clinics that offer high quality and affordable (subsidized prices) health services to women, young people, and communities’ regardless of anyone's ability to pay. In order to empower and promote the well-being of the adolescents (ages 15 -19), services are offered to them free 3 days a week. Through their network of mobile outreach clinics, Marie Stopes promotes freedom and choice by conducting monthly outreaches for 5 days in all the various counties they work. Many services such as permanent family planning methods like tubal ligation are offered by the mobile outreach team comprised of...

Kisumu Nurse Spotlight: Everline Oruko

April 30, 2019April 30, 2019 by Faith OtewaNo Comments

Everline Oruko is a nurse at Migosi sub-County Hospital, one of three sites in Kisumu, Kenya, that offers cervical cancer screening and treatment. As the Nursing Officer in Charge, Everline leads a team of nurses and staff to improve uptake of cervical cancer screening and cryotherapy treatment for those who test positive. Despite many fits and starts, Everline has remained a constant in the effort to reduce cervical cancer among women in Kisumu. Our Kisumu site coordinator, Faith Otewa, sat down with Everline to talk about her job and her commitment to her work in cervical cancer prevention: Everline was first employed by the Ministry of Health at Ahero Health Facility after she graduated in 1993 with a Diploma in Nursing. She further enrolled for certificate courses in Counseling and HIV Testing Services (HTS) because she felt these would make her service delivery better. Everline then became sponsored for a course in counseling supervision because of her commitment at work. Upon...

It’s a Jungle Out There!

March 26, 2019March 26, 2019 by Faith OtewaNo Comments

I was recently given the opportunity to attend DGHI's Regional Partners Workshop “Developing Collaborative Approaches to Global Mental Health and Maternal and Child Health Research" in Nairobi Kenya. The goal in convening this conference was well communicated in the opening remarks by Duke Global Health Institute Director, Dr. Chris Plowe. He told us that the workshop was to be a forum for partners to build skills, share knowledge, and identify new opportunities to work together. I looked around the room bursting with seasoned global health professionals, faculty, researchers, and doctors and couldn't help but think of myself as a “tiny animal in a big jungle" and wonder how well I would meet these goals. But after three days of consuming dense information from presentations and break-out sessions, I found that I had learned a lot in the big jungle, and that my experience was well worth sharing - especially with younger staffers who may be unsure of how to navigate the jungle...

Continuous Medical Education at Migosi Sub-County Hospital in Kisumu, Kenya

March 8, 2019March 8, 2019 by Faith OtewaNo Comments

Migosi Sub-County Hospital is a government level 4 hospital situated in Migosi sub-location of Kisumu County. The hospital is staffed with a Medical Officer Superintendent, Nursing Officer, Lab Technologists, Clinical Officers, Pharmacy Technologist, Support Staff, HTS Service Providers, Peer Counselors, and a Nutritionist. The facility has a catchment population of over 20,000 and is expected to provide services to over 5,000 women of reproductive age per year. Some of the services offered include Antenatal, MCH services, Anti-Retroviral Therapy, Family Planning, Home-based Care, Basic Emergency Obstetric Care, and Inpatient care. The Hospital has strengthened its cervical cancer department and has been in the forefront of beating cervical cancer. The department embraces a “see and treat” slogan and uses the Visual Inspection with Acetic (VIA) method and treatment by means of cryotherapy. The Hospital has intensively engaged Community Health Volunteers (CHVs) who take advantage of any chance to urge women to come for cervical cancer screening. On 14/02/2019 Dr. Phil Gorrindo visited the facility to...

Tumaini La Maisha Health Services Organization

February 6, 2019February 6, 2019 by Faith OtewaNo Comments

This is a non-profit organization that works jointly with Kisumu Hospice Center established at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital (JOOTRH) on cancer projects. Breast, cervical, prostate and esophageal cancers are its focus. The Kisumu Hospice serves the local community and supports a satellite hospice center at the Siaya District Hospital. On average, the hospice aids 50 patients each month. The organization promotes cancer awareness and helps navigation through patient referall by community screening and linkage. The foundation has established an accommodation unit in Nairobi that hosts a total of six patients at a time who have been referred for radiotherapy. It has also established a school in Nyakach (Kisumu County) for vulnerable children and offers support to the school. The organization works with partners like Aga Khan Health Services, JOOTRH and Oncology Department to offer services to cancer patients. The organization takes the lead in participating in national events, organizing medical camps and community outreach programs with an aim to...

Plan International Meeting

January 27, 2019January 27, 2019 by Faith OtewaNo Comments

I met with Plan International on January 17th. Plan International is an independent children’s rights organization committed to supporting vulnerable and marginalized children and their communities. The organization directly works with the community, schools, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education and County Government. PLAN International works in 18 counties across Kenya: Nairobi, Machakos, Kajiado, Tharaka Nithi, Siaya, Bungoma, Busia, Taita Taveta, Kilifi, Mombasa, Kwale, Vihiga, Kakamega, Kisii, Migori, Homabay, Kisumu and Marsabit. PLAN’S key areas of focus are; Child protection Improving access to basic, quality education and early childhood development Quality healthcare including water, sanitation and hygiene, as well as adolescent and child health Youth employment and economic opportunities Resilience-building through disaster risk management To achieve part of this core activities, PLAN implements an Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (ASRHR) Project in Kisumu County, in the 2 sub-counties Kisumu West and Seme. The project targets children, parents and the community at large to enhance the wellbeing of the youth. The project implements: Training...

Looking At Gender Based Violence in Kenya

January 18, 2019January 18, 2019 by Faith OtewaNo Comments

The 2014 Kenya Demographic and Household Survey (KDHS) indicates that Gender Based Violence (GBV) occurs in all parts of the country. Specifically, 47% of women and 40% of men between ages 15 and 49 reported that they have experienced either physical or sexual violence, while 45% of women and 44% of men between ages 14 and 49 have experienced physical violence (KDHS 2014). Reports further indicate an alarming increasing number of cases, demonstrating that GBV remains one of the most pervasive human rights violations in the country. The areas Nyanza and Western have the highest rates of GBV cases in Kenya. More than 500 survivors within and beyond are set to benefit from an established Gender Based Violence Recovery Centre in Kisumu (Africa Women and Child Magazine). The Gender Based Violence Recovery Centre based at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital (JOOTRH) was constructed with support from KEMRI/CDC, which funded the construction of the building. It is a fully-fledged Recovery...

HIV Patients Sue Government Over Lack of Septrin

December 3, 2018December 3, 2018 by Faith OtewaNo Comments

Co-trimoxazole preventive therapy is a feasible intervention for people living with HIV. It works to reduce HIV-related morbidity and mortality through an off-patent drug, which is widely available in resource-limited settings. The World Health Organization (WHO) conditionally recommends the use of co-trimoxazole as treatment for opportunistic infections in people living with HIV/AIDS. In Uganda, previous reports by the State Minister for Health stated that there was a funding shortage for the drug. The Global Fund, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland has since stepped in to provide all funds for the drugs available from July 2018 onwards. This is good news, as daily intake of co-trimoxazole relieves symptoms and prolongs life for people living with HIV/AIDS. However, a human rights organization and two people living with HIV have sued the Ugandan Government and the National Medical Stores (NMS) for alleged failure to supply public health centers with septrin as one of the essential drugs for treatment of AIDS for the months of March...

The KCHSSIP 2018-2022 Validation Meeting

November 30, 2018November 30, 2018 by Faith OtewaNo Comments

The KCHSSIP (Kisumu County Health Sector Strategic and Investment Plan) 2018-2022 validation meeting held at the Acacia Hotel on 9th Nov 2018 saw the Kisumu County Health Department and a consortium of partners come together to finalize a plan, which is based on data from county health services over the last 5 years, as well as experiences and lessons learned during implementation of the first strategic plan from 2013 to 2017. The plan attempts to effectively position the County Health Department in the correct contexts of the health system pillars: human resources for health, health technology and infrastructure, pharmaceutical and medical supplies, health governance and leadership, health service delivery, health financing, health information system, health sector policies and context and health sector social outcomes. It also examines county health burdens such as malaria, HIV/AIDS, diarrheal diseases, skin diseases, pneumonia, tuberculosis and other respiratory diseases and non-communicable diseases. The document has gone through a process of stakeholder’s participation and input and is now...