Training Health Workers in Kenya Saves Lives

Off the smooth Nairobi-Meru highway, at the busy Karaba Trading Centre and Market, begins the rough and dusty road to Mbonzuki Dispensary. The temperatures are high and the wind is gusty. Come the rainy season, the road becomes impassable except by foot or heavily levied motorbike.

Pauline is one of the two health workers who run the facility and provide health care for Mbonzuki Village, a very remote part of Kenya’s Embu County. Pauline is a registered community health nurse who provides family planning services, immunizations, prescribes and dispenses medications, delivers babies, and oversees the facility’s comprehensive care center helping HIV-positive clients and counseling them on the importance of taking their antiretroviral drugs. Before Pauline came to Mbonzuki the dispensary just had one employee—Paul—who cared for a population of about 10,000 by himself.

Kenya has a serious shortage of health workers. There is only 1 doctor, nurse, or midwife for every 1,000 people, less than half the minimum recommended by the World Health Organization. The deficit is even worse in hard-to-reach areas like Mbonzuki Village since most health workers prefer to live and work in urban areas.

“It’s tough here,” says Pauline. She puts in long hours, sometimes six days a week, and cares for up to 70 clients a day. The facility lacks electricity and piped water. There’s a shortage of essential medicines and equipment. Plus, Pauline’s four-year-old daughter is due to start school soon. “With no kindergarten school in the village, it’s a difficult situation. My passion for community health nursing and my responsibility as a parent is a dilemma I’m struggling with.” Nonetheless, Pauline remains upbeat about her work and strives to keep the villagers’ hope of better health care down the road alive.

IntraHealth International has been helping Kenya strengthening the country’s systems to train, manage, recruit, post, and retain a high-quality and equitably distributed health workforce, but there are still not enough workers like Pauline and Paul to make high-quality services available to everyone. Continued support for projects like the Afya Elimu fund will help close the gap between the number of health workers needed and the number actually on the ground.

Many of Kenya’s health professional students are unable to pay their annual tuition fees—approximately 70,000 Kenyan Shillings ($767) for most public middle-level colleges that offer certificate and diploma programs—leading to a high drop-out rate. As a result, Kenya has a serious shortage of health workers, with only 1 doctor, nurse, or midwife for every 1,000 people. This is significantly lower than the World Health Organization’s minimum recommendation of 2.3 doctors, nurses, and midwives for the same amount of people. Kenya’s growing population puts a further strain on the health workforce.

Afya Elimu Fund loans were created to combat this problem. These loans are offered to students enrolled in accredited nursing, clinical medicine, laboratory sciences, nutrition, and health records information programs. Students apply for the loan to cover their tuition fees, and can receive a maximum of 70,000 Kenya shillings ($767) a year. 

This fund will remain active and IntraHealth will continue to work with its partners including the FUNZOKenya project, the Higher Education Loans Board, and the Kenya Healthcare Federation, but will no longer offer giving opportunioties through Global Giving.

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