Living Goods joined other partners in Kisumu County at a COVID-19 event presided over by Governor Prof. Anyang Nyong’o. He thanked us for PPE donations, collaboration on IEC materials, and support in sensitizing CHWs on COVID-19, while expressing his desire for continued partnership going forward.

Following months of discussions in late 2019, in Q1 we worked with the leadership of Kenya’s Kisumu County to co-create what would have been our second co-financed partnership for community health. This exciting development presented an opportunity for Living Goods to support a second UHC pilot county in Kenya, following Isiolo, to strengthen health service delivery by supporting an initial 1,000 CHWs in three of Kisumu’s sub-counties, which would have been followed by a county-wide rollout.

Guided by learnings from our Isiolo and Bobasi TA experiences, we spent much of the quarter holding a series of engagements with Kisumu government officials to design, budget and plan for our entry into the county. However, although plans to formalize the partnership had progressed to an advanced stage, in mid-March, we suspended the joint planning and entry operations as the country began to grapple with the coronavirus threat.

Recognizing the dire needs in the lakeside county—a malaria–endemic region with among the highest maternal and U5 mortality rates, and some of the highest disease burdens in the country—we quickly shifted focus to support the county’s most pressing needs in response to the COVID crisis. 

We have now extended support to all 2,600 CHWs in the county by equipping them with MOH-approved IEC messages and including them in our SMS outreach and education support we’ve provided to CHWs in the other six Kenyan counties where we operate. In addition, we have donated public handwashing stations, soap and equipment to support the county government.