Maternal and Child Health Project

Health Project

Project Aim

To increase knowledge on  and access to quality maternal and child health care at community level in urban informal settlements using the Care Group model.

The project has grouped women of reproductive age and those with children under five years in groups of 10-15 where they have bi-weekly meetings to learn on MCH best practices.

 

Maternal and Child Health

Started in 2017 and ongoing.

Project mandate.

  • Educating and supporting immediate caregivers and mothers on MCH best practices.
  • Capacity building for community health volunteers.
  • Nutritional support.
  • Engangement of men to support and promote Maternal and Child Health best practices.

"In a bid to facilitate behavior change in the community, the project adopts the Care Group approach

Cleanup Activities

Mathare community is a highly populated area with limited drainage system and proper waste management is a challenge. Such led to emergence of communicable diseases especially when it rains, hence KMC-CPN in collaboration with the county government and our project participants take part in community clean up with an aim to try and make the surrounding environment safe. This activity is done twice a year where youths both men and female clean the environment and the county government collect waste for disposal.

Food Drive for the Most Vulnerable

Most of Mathare community members live below one dollar, and the ones that are employed do menial jobs to survive. With most affected being young single mothers and children making cases of malnutrition be on the rise. As a package of maternal and child health, proper nutrition is key and the organization started a food basket drive(incentive) with an aim to reduce the cases of malnutrition selecting women from the project who are most vulnerable and given cereals, cooking, blankets, jericans, sugar and flour once a year. Though it happens once a year, these women feel appreciated, cared for and loved.

Trainings For Project Participants

Training of our staff, promoters and neighbor women has been key especially on emerging health related issues. E.g.

 Behavior change communication; which is our back bone to reaching out to women on maternal and child issues by trying to teach the society what is right and how to change in a positive way. Though change is hard but we hope that through continual sensitization the community will move from negative to positive through behavior change.  

Care group model; since its interception in Rwanda and with good community impact, care group model was introduced in Mathare slums though in an informal settlement for the first time, most of the people had no knowledge about it. The organization took officials from the Ministry of Health, staff and project participants on 5 days training on it. It’s our hope that someday care group model will be part of community strategy not only in Kenya but African and world wide