Support Covid-19 vaccine programme in rural Kenya

Thank you for donating to this project which is part of our emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Your donations are helping to provide - training for Health Care Workers about the COVID-19 vaccination programme; information and communication materials for Community Health Volunteers to share in their communities and equipment and materials for health facilities to store and administer the vaccine.  For example - providing equipment such as Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) - gloves, masks and hand sanitiser, vaccine fridges to store the vaccines and cooler boxes for transporting the vaccines to remote communities.

Vaccines continue to be distributed and administered and as of December 16^th the rate of fully vaccinated adults has increased to 36.9% across Kenya according to the Ministry of Health figures.  In Kericho County, where we work, the rate is 34.3% - that is 174,335 adults (over 18 years) out of a target population of 508,980.  Vaccinations are also available to children aged between 12 and 18 years and in Kericho 10.8% of  the target population of 160,761 are fully vaccinated. 

Since January 2022, we have provided 25 health facilities (with a catchment population of 74,848) with vaccine cooler boxes to enable the safe transportation of vaccines, and 10 health facilities (with a catchment population of 37,489)  with vaccine fridges to enable the safe storage of vaccines.  Your support of this project has helped to make this happen.

Strengthening of health facilities is also supporting the routine childhood vaccination programme and on November 10^th Jagoror Dispensary marked World Immunisation Day when 57 mothers brought their babies for immunisation, 65 school children also came for their HPV vaccine and a total of 101 boys and girls received the COVID-19 vaccine.

In Kericho County, many people live in hard to reach areas with poor roads, rough terrain and no public transport.  Bringing the COVID-19 vaccine to the people is vital to reduce community transmission and keep everyone safe and healthy.  We do this working in partnership with the Ministry of Health, by bringing outreach clinics to communities setting up at markets, churches and schools.  Your donation providing PPE, training, equipment and materials is helping to make this happen.  Thank you!

Please feel welcome to share this report with a friend and tell them why you support this project.  The need is still great and every single donation makes a difference.

Thank you for your support.

Thank you for donating to this project supporting the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine.  Since our last report in May, the rate of fully vaccinated adults has increased to 35% across Kenya and in Kericho county, it stands at 33%.  The ability and confidence of the health care workers to administer the vaccine is increasing through training and provision of PPE.  Households are receiving information and growing in awareness of the need for the vaccine through regular visits from Community Health Volunteers and there is greater access to the vaccine in Kenya as the months go by.  Between April and July 22,244 people in Kericho county were fully vaccinated.

With your help, the project continues to focus on training and sensitisation of Health Care workers on all elements of the vaccine programme; preparing health facilities by providing vaccination fridges, vaccine carriers, PPE, IT support and information posters & banner and training Community Health Volunteers to raise awareness and understanding in the community about the vaccine.

To increase the distribution and uptake of COVID-19 vaccine, all health facilities across the County are needed to administer the vaccine. Unfortunately, most of these facilities lack equipment to deliver these services.  Where a health facility cannot store the vaccine, the staff of that centre have to travel to another health centre to collect vaccines on a daily basis.  This mean that while they are travelling the health facility is closed and day to day health services cannot be delivered.  Providing health facilities with vaccination fridges allows them to store the COVID-19 vaccine as well as others such as those for children under five years of age.  The health needs of the community are not impacted by closures and Health Care Workers can get on with their job of looking after the community.

This project is helping to support a number of health facilities to act as vaccine provision sites.  With their storage facilities and through a mobile outreach system and health care workers who set up outreach clinics, vaccination services are provided to remote clinics and communities.  Vaccine cooler boxes for transport, IT support with tablets for keeping records and personal protective equipment are part of the outreach system.

Community Health Volunteers are part of Kenya’s Community Health Strategy, acting as a link between the households and health facility in a community.  They act as key agents in sensitising community members on the importance of the COVID-19 vaccine.  To help these volunteers in their role,  we support their training and provide communications materials – posters and banners.  

‘’Great thanks to Brighter Communities Worldwide for your support and sacrifice. Your support helps further our mission to provide healthcare services to the community’’; Dr Collins Kirui, Sub County Medical Officer of Health, Belgut Sub County, Kericho County.

There is much more to be done to make sure we leave no one behind.  Next week, donations up to €50 will be matched at 50% by the GlobalGiving Little by Little campaign.  Please share this report with a friend, share with them why you support this project and let them know about the matching fund.  The need is still great and every single donation makes a difference.

Thank you for your support.

Thank you so much for supporting our programme to help with the roll out of the COVID-19 vaccine programme in Kericho county where we work. Thanks to your donations, this programme is providing vital support.

The latest update is that the number of fully vaccinated adults in Kericho county is at 28.2% (target population over 18 years of age is 508,980).   Progress continues to be hampered by logistics and distribution challenges.

Every day we are getting requests for Personal Protection Equipment (PPE).  Photographs here show a distribution to the Londiani Sub-County Hospital in February.  The hospital was in crisis as their supplies were finished and no further supplies were available which put services provided by the hospital at risk.  This hospital provides outpatient and inpatient care, medical and surgical emergency response, maternal and child health clinics, HIV/AIDS care centre, paediatrics and obstetrics/gynaecology.  Without these services lives are at risk – the next closest hospital is 50km distance which without access to transport may as well be 500km.  Unfortunately, this situation is not an isolated case.

Training for 36 health care workers in Infection Prevention and Control across health facilities took place since our last update.   This training includes identifying, isolating and caring for patients, contract tracing, home based care and administration of the COVID-19 vaccination. These health care workers continue to bring the vaccine to the furthest parts of the county through outreach clinics and your donations support all of this work. 

We have supported 26 Outreach clinics exclusively for COVID-19 vaccinations since November and at those clinics 511 people have received 1^st dose; 529 2^nd dose and 13 people received booster shots. 

Since the opening of the Vaccine centre at Londiani Sub-County Hospital in December, the hospital staff have given out 23,710 vaccinations in total.

The government has lifted the mandatory wearing of masks which has led to assumptions in the community that ‘COVID-19 is no longer with us’.  We continue to raise awareness of the virus and the vaccination at all our programme events using posters and banners to ensure that even the most remote communities know the vaccine is available to them and the threat to their health is not gone away.

Please share this report among your circles – COVID-19 is far from over in Kenya and with high transmission rates, the threat of a new and more dangerous variant remains real.

Thank you so much for supporting the roll out of the COVID-19 vaccine in Kericho county, Kenya with your donation.   Here is the latest update for you on what's been happening.

December 10th was a day for celebrations as the vaccine centre at Londiani Sub-County Hospital was opened and the first COVID-19 vaccines were administered from there.  This was great news!  The centre is constructed on a newly built, permanent foundation with a temporary tent structure and inside the area is sectioned off into individual booths for dispensing the vaccines.  

Kericho county has a population of almost one million people with 56% over 15 years of age.  4% of the adults here are fully vaccinated.  There is a long way to go to make sure that no one is left behind.

The challenges to the roll out continue - providing the basics like soap and PPE as well as the major logistical challenges of vaccine fridges, tents to set up temporary clinics, transport & training for Health Care workers, cooler boxes for vaccine transport, information on posters & banners to let the community know about the vaccine and outreach clinics bringing the vaccine to the people living in remote and hard to reach parts of the county.

So far we have supplied 13 Health Facilities with vaccine fridges, 16 outreach clinics have been supported, 148 Health Care workers have been trained and 107 Community Health Volunteers have trained on how to sensitise their communities about the vaccine reaching 12,840 people so far with information shared.   

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says 'If the vaccine isn't everywhere, this pandemic isn't going anywhere'.  This is borne out by the recent global surge in a new variant of the virus.  It is vital that everyone, everywhere has access and we are determined to do all that we can to make that happen.  Only then will the communities we work with be able to rebuild and recover from the devastation this pandemic is causing to health services, schools, business and community.

Your support makes all the difference in safeguarding the lives of the people we work with.  Thank you! Please feel welcome to share this report with your circle of friends and family - every single donation makes a difference.

Thank you so much for donating to this project which is raising funds to support the roll out of the Covid-19 vaccine in Kenya.   This is an update for you on what has been happening over the last number of months.

Kenya received their first vaccine delivery in March 2021 through the global vaccine sharing scheme - Covax.  In August further supplies arrived through Covax and also direct donations from the UK, the USA and other countries.   Right now, less than 3% of adults in Kenya are fully vaccinated - there is a long way to go before we can say that the communities we are working with will be safe from transmission of the virus.

Thanks to your support, our first trainng is happening this week for health care workers in preparation for the vaccine roll out.  We have provided trainings in infection, prevention and control and in sensitising the community about the vaccine in July.   A permanent foundation has been built in the grounds of Londiani sub-county hospital.  This will accommodate a temporary tent structure to serve as a vaccine centre at the hospital.  When that is no longer required, the foundations will be used to build a permanent structure to add to the services provided by the hospital.  We have designed information packs of posters and banners, we are purchasing materials needed such as PPE, cooler boxes for vaccine transport, tents, chairs and tables.  Outreach clinics will be critical to a successful rollout to ensure that everyone has access to the vaccines no matter where they are living.

Damaris Chepkemboi is the Programme and Administration manager with Brighter Communities Worldwide in Kenya.  She says the change the vaccine will bring to the community will be to reduce community transmission, reduce the strain on the health care system allowing time and resources to be available to look after all other illnesses, allow for time and money to be diverted to other health care projects as right now the focus remains on Covid-19 prevention and vaccine information.  Damaris says people are waiting to get back to earning a living as businesses are hugely impacted by restrictions to travel and nightly curfews.  They are looking forward to spending time with family and loved ones especially the elders and to the resumption of  social and workship gatherings.

The pandemic is far from over in Kenya and it won't be until more supplies of the vaccine are made available.  Only then will health and education services have a chance to recover and communities will have the chance to get back to normal and not live in fear of hunger, poverty and sickness as they have done since the pandemic began.

We must keep the pressure on and act now because no one is safe until everyone is safe. Your support makes all the difference and we are so grateful to you for your response.

Little acts of kindess make a big difference and from September 13th to 17th, when you give up to $50 (approx €42) to support this project, GlobalGiving will match your generosity with 50% match funding for the Little by Little campaign.  Please help us to spread the word and share this report with your family and friends - let them know that BIG change can come from little acts of Kindness!