For the past decade, 26-year-old Immaculate has relied on CHWs for guidance on family planning and child spacing. Although she had concerns about using contraceptives due to myths and misconceptions prevalent in her community, she found reassurance through the advice and counselling provided by CHW Kuluthum.

“I was in a stable relationship, but my partner and I wanted to spend some time before having a baby. However, I didn’t know how to go about it because I had many fears about using contraceptives. My peers always said contraceptives cause infertility or other complications,” narrates Immaculate.

Immaculate, like many other women in her community, faces challenges accessing health
facilities for family planning advice and methods as the nearest facility is over 3 kilometers away, and the cost of transport, approximately $3, is unaffordable. Despite dropping out of school after being orphaned, 47-year-old Kuluthum is finally living her dream of improving healthcare access. After being recruited as a government CHW 15 years ago, she later received training and support from Living Goods and has since made a significant impact in her community.

Living Goods provides Kuluthum and other CHWs with digital tools, medicines, commodities, supervision and monthly incentives to ensure they are effective in their roles. CHWs offer counselling and short-term family planning advice and methods, identify danger signs during pregnancy and provide support before and after birth, and detect, treat and refer for childhood diseases and immunization services. Immaculate credits Kuluthum with helping her to have two well-spaced children and a happy family. “The CHW helps us to treat and manage our children’s illnesses, educates us on proper nutrition for the little ones and so much more,” Immaculate says. “I can confidently say that she is our guardian angel.”

As such, Kuluthum’s services are vital to her community because she is within reach and
supports families like Immaculate’s to make informed choices about their health and wellbeing. “My presence gives hope even to those with the least means to access healthcare.
I’m thankful to Living Goods for making this possible,” CHW Kuluthum concludes.