Wrap-up
I leave Kenya a week from today and after picking yet another ant out of my cup of coffee, I think I can say that I will be ready to go.
The Community Health Worker training is well underway and I'm impressed that the 10 students still show up early to class every day, are engaged in the lesson all day long, and seem to be excited about what they're learning. I dropped by class a couple of days ago and the topic was First Aid. As part of the lesson, the class split into groups to brainstorm different causes of loss of consciousness. The lists were hung on the wall and included things like 'drowning,' 'alcohol,' 'hitting your head,' 'quality sex,' and 'delayed ejaculation.'
I've finished my preliminary look at the data from the village health surveys and typed up a synopsis. There are only 45 completed records so far, but it was still easy to see that child mortality is very common - 1 in 3 families have lost at least one kid. Most died at or around birth and the second most common cause of death was infection - yellow fever, malaria, tetanus, etc. About half of the households use some form of birth control and about half of the women surveyed said they wanted more kids, so that seems to match. Unplanned pregnancy is a huge problem here, so I was surprised not to see more people not wanting to get pregnant. Anecdotally, there's a woman Megan knows who just found out that she's pregnant with her tenth child. She's really upset about it and was taking oral contraceptives to prevent pregnancy. Abortion is illegal in Kenya and so she has 9 months to come to grips with the new baby.
The record system for the community health workers is still in progress and I'm waiting for some final feedback from the clinic nurse. It's all very simple, it has to be, but I hope it captures the important things. Once the work is underway and people begin to use the forms I designed, I'm sure they'll find ways to modify and improve them. It's been exciting to be involved at the very beginning of a new program. I look forward to checking the EAC website and newsletter to find out how things go.
The Community Health Worker training is well underway and I'm impressed that the 10 students still show up early to class every day, are engaged in the lesson all day long, and seem to be excited about what they're learning. I dropped by class a couple of days ago and the topic was First Aid. As part of the lesson, the class split into groups to brainstorm different causes of loss of consciousness. The lists were hung on the wall and included things like 'drowning,' 'alcohol,' 'hitting your head,' 'quality sex,' and 'delayed ejaculation.'
I've finished my preliminary look at the data from the village health surveys and typed up a synopsis. There are only 45 completed records so far, but it was still easy to see that child mortality is very common - 1 in 3 families have lost at least one kid. Most died at or around birth and the second most common cause of death was infection - yellow fever, malaria, tetanus, etc. About half of the households use some form of birth control and about half of the women surveyed said they wanted more kids, so that seems to match. Unplanned pregnancy is a huge problem here, so I was surprised not to see more people not wanting to get pregnant. Anecdotally, there's a woman Megan knows who just found out that she's pregnant with her tenth child. She's really upset about it and was taking oral contraceptives to prevent pregnancy. Abortion is illegal in Kenya and so she has 9 months to come to grips with the new baby.
The record system for the community health workers is still in progress and I'm waiting for some final feedback from the clinic nurse. It's all very simple, it has to be, but I hope it captures the important things. Once the work is underway and people begin to use the forms I designed, I'm sure they'll find ways to modify and improve them. It's been exciting to be involved at the very beginning of a new program. I look forward to checking the EAC website and newsletter to find out how things go.
posted by Imle at 3:34 AM
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