Kenya

The project is aimed at improving the skills, initially in the field of Radiology, of the healthcare staff at the Ruaraka Uhai Neema Hospital in Nairobi, founded in 2008 by the World Friends organisation.

The objective of the project is to train medical staff remotely, with residential training and on-the-job training missions. The objective of the World Friends Kenya is to make health services accessible even to the most vulnerable sections of the population in the Nairobi metropolitan area.

The Ruaraka Uhai Neema Hospital in Nairobi, founded by the non-profit organization World Friends Kenya in 2008, has over the years become a reference center for the sub-country and the Nairobi metropolitan area. The health facility is recognized as level 4 by the government and receives an average of 10,000 patients per month, with a staff made up of 99% local staff.

World Friends Kenya expressed to Bambino Gesù the need to improve knowledge in the diagnostic field, with particular attention to the potential of the Radiology Department. The final objective remains that of making health services accessible and sustainable even for the most vulnerable sections of the population, such as residents of the neighboring slums, the main catchment area of ​​the health facility.

Kenya ranks 143rd in the Human Development Index. From and economic-social point of view, the most suitable key to understanding the country is its strong inequality in the distribution of wealth. It is estimated that 36% of Kenyan income is held by 10% of the population and that, at the same time, 36% of the population lives below the relative poverty line while 37% live on less than 1.90$ a day.

The public health in Kenya faces many challenges in the delivery of services: it is characterized by inconsistent funding, scarce resources, shortage of health workers, inadequate facilities, depletion of essential medicines. As a result, the availability and quality of health services is limited.

Furthermore, although in Africa the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has had an unexpectedly lower direct clinical impact on the populations than expected, the indirect effects of these must be considered. The first studies show how the public health measures, put in place to counter the contagion, have caused a significant interruption of the services offered within the health centers and at the same time reduced the number of accesses to the same centers by patients.

In the urban context of Nairobi, especially for residents of slums and informal settlements, who represent 60-70% of the total population of the capital, the restrictions have affected the local economy and informal workers, negatively impacting household incomes and by increasing the prices of health services and basic necessities.

Movement restrictions, the reduced number of means of transport and the evening and night curfew have made it difficult for patients to access hospitals, even in the emergency or urgent situations. Furthermore, the interaction between SARS-CoV-2 infection and acute and chronic infectious and non-communicable diseases has had a negative synergistic effect especially in Nairobi and in the major urban centers of the country, previously characterized by severe economic and social inequalities and a fragile health system.

The limit of the health system serving the slums does not consist in the number of structures (which appear to be inadequate, but not limited), but lies in the quality and effectiveness of the services provided. The slums are mainly served by small dispensaries (representing 84.4% of the structures), privately owned and for profit, where the staff have limited skills and are often unqualified, which have inconvenient opening hours and they apply tariffs that are disproportionate to the economic capacities of local families.

Project partners
World Friends Kenya

Expiration
2025

Pediatric specialties
Radiology

Activities 2023

• A program with residential training in OPBG is planned for 1-2 doctors, covered with the funds received from the Maria Enrica Foundation.
• 2-3 webinars and a possible on-the-job training mission in Nairobi are planned.