Support Child & Family Wellness shops in Kenya

Three representatives of CFW were pleased to attend the "first global social franchising conference" in Mombasa, Kenya, November 9-11, 2011.  At the conference, Sir Richard Feachem presented CFW with an award:  "In commendation of excellence in quality assurance standards, systems and documentation."

We are so pleased to receive this award, which reflects our commitment to maintaining high quality standards throughout the CFW network.  By controlling quality throughout each CFW clinic and throughout the supply chain feeding each CFW clinic, we are fulfilling the CFW brand promise.  Patients are treated with dignity, healthcare is effective, and lives are saved.

Josephine Mburu, CFW's acting country manager in Kenya, comments, "It's because of the franchisees' hard work and cooperation that CFW has won this award.  The award specifically recognizes the role of CFW field staff in ensuring standards are maintained, as well as the innovative, periodic peer-to-peer reviews that CFW franchisees use to encourage each other to maintain standards."

Congratulations to all CFW staff and franchisees for their excellent work which has led to this prestigious award!

During the launch of a new CFW clinic on June 30, 2011, our staff and new franchisee came face to face with the great need for health education and health care services in Kaanwa village, where the new CFW clinic is located.  A young mother came to the CFW clinic carrying her baby, followed by the baby’s father.  The baby (Sally) was eight days old and painfully thin, small, and looked so fragile she might break. The CFW nurse attended to the baby immediately but before she started to take the vital signs, the baby labored to draw air…her last breath.

From the history given by the mother, the baby was prematurely born and the delivery had happened at home. The local traditional birth attendant has helped the mother to give birth but the mother did not go for a review at the nearest health facility (a district hospital approximately 10km away). The young mother had not attended antenatal checkups, neither had she taken the baby to any health care provider.

Other villagers informed us that in Kaanwa, cases similar to this baby’s are not uncommon. Young mothers are not giving birth in the hospital and even when the child is very sick, they still do not go to hospital. Seeking of health care services is so delayed that in many cases nothing can be done to reverse the damage.  Apart from the new CFW clinic, there are no other reliable health care providers in the area.  A nearby church set up a clinic, but due to poor clinic management and frequent stock outs of essential drugs, the church clinic is frequently closed.

As part of this update, we've included a photo of the launch of the new CFW clinic in Kaanwa. Also, if you'd like to know where Kaanwa is located, please type the following GPS coordinates into Google Maps:  -00.32172, 037.72026.  Kaanwa is an example of a typical context in which CFW clinics are serving patients and saving lives by making basic healthcare accessible and affordable.  Please consider contributing to CFW's ongoing effort.

In this project report we present a profile of CFW franchisee Pharis Mureithi Ngaruri, as compiled by Caroline Nganga, a journalist who worked with CFW in 2010.

We've uploaded a photo of Pharis selling a long-lasting insecticide-treated mosquito net to a CFW patient.  In 2010, the CFW network in Kenya distributed over 11,000 mosquito nets.  Long-lasting insecticide-treated nets can effectively prevent malaria for several years without being retreated with insecticide.

Pharis has been a CFW franchisee for 10 years!  We are proud of his efforts to prevent disease and have uploaded the GPS coordinates of his CFW outlet (-00.42158, 037.25883) in case you are interested in using Google Maps to see where he is operating.

Pharis keeps his CFW outlet open 7 days per week, from 9 am to 6 pm.  He also holds monthly outreach programs where he gives health talks on sanitation, malaria, water treatment and other common diseases in the area. When we asked about the impact of the outreach, Pharis said, “Information is vital and people know that and they really appreciate it. I go everywhere, like schools, welfare groups and even door to door because there could be a patient who doesn’t want to go for the outreach so I go to them. And most people will buy the products that I am selling, like mosquito nets or water guard or PUR. So it is helping because diseases like malaria and worm infections have really reduced.”

Pharis is a well known personality in the village of Kwaeliud in Kirinyaga district for two main reasons: his evangelism ministry and his work as an active community health worker in Kwaeliud where he is a CFW franchisee.  Pharis told us how he got started in healthcare:

“I used to be a casual laborer before I started evangelism which I have been doing for over 30 years. I came to be a community health worker after attending various trainings with the Christian Community Services while still in church Ministry. I then took up healthcare as a career,” he said.

At 70 years of age, Pharis has had 10 children and several grandchildren. With 20 years offering healthcare services, and 10 with CFW, Pharis shifted from evangelism to health because, “In my evangelism, I was very involved with people who had many health problems so when Christian Community Services was giving trainings, I always attended. I then worked with government as a community health worker. A few years later, I attended a number of CFW trainings and then in 2001 I decided to open a CFW outlet that so I can be closer to people in my own community.”

Many thanks to Pharis for his continuing outstanding work on behalf of CFW!