When young Nicholas Ngumbua was first identified as malnourished his mother was given a food supplement and instructed on its use. Unfortunately, the child became ill from an unrelated infection, and Mom feared the illness was due to the supplement and discontinued it. This family has no transportation and lives so far from the clinic they can not return. Thanks to our Community Health Workers (CHWs) the child was seen again at an outreach clinic. Nicholas’s supplemental feeding program was started again. A complete recovery from malnourishment is expected.
GHP Saves Children’s Development After Malnutrition
Child malnutrition causes not only stunted growth but brain damage. GHP has conducted a novel study of the developmental outcome of children who have been assisted by our therapeutic feeding program. The news is good! 100 “graduates” from the “Feed Hungry Children in Kenya” program have been studied and their mental and physical development is beyond expectations. They are doing well!
Baby Muli lives in a remote Kenyan village. His mother, Angela, brought him to the health center because he was sick and severely underweight. He was placed in the GHP therapeutic feeding program and followed carefully. Angela was given a supply of Plumpy’nut and returned to outreach clinics.
Muli has not only survived, he has thrived. His growth and development is remarkable. He is among the 100 “graduates” from GHP’s therapeutic feeding program enrolled in this development-after-malnutrition study. Muli, his mother Angela, and his entire family are now happy and healthy.
GHP volunteers, with assistance and funding from the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, are in the process of publishing the results of this unique research. Every child is worth saving.
Right now 22 malnourished children are currently enrolled in the therapeutic feeding program and all of them are recovering.
Please help GHP continue to help malnourished children like Muli. Give what you can to this worthy project of curing child malnutrition.
December 2015 Outreach
In December 2015, 106 people were seen in Mekelingi; 60 were children and 36 women for family planning. In Syokisinga 55 people attended the clinic, 41 children and 7 family planning. These monthly out reach clinics assure that residents of the most remote parts of our service area have access to basic health care. The Outreach clinics are done on the weekends and do not interrupt regular clinic services.
Now, with your help, Musembi can go to school.
This past March Musembi Katumbi underwent life changing surgery through the generosity of Global Health Partnerships. Because of developmental deformities of his legs, Musembi could not walk or stand on his own very well. As the oldest of three brothers, the only thing six year old Musembi wants to do is play with his brothers. Thankfully the surgery has given him the freedom to move and play. Although his knees still get weak after play, he is quite happy to be able to move around with limited pain.
Musembi’s desperately poor family is extremely grateful that, thanks to the support of GHP, they are able to have their joyfully shy Musembi back. Attending school is now a reasonable dream for Musembi. He is still too weak to walk 3km daily through rough terrain. His family is seeking support for expenses to get Musembi back and forth to school until he is strong enough to walk.
Your tax deductible gift to Global Health Partnerships will help Musembi and 50,000 more desperately poor people served by GHP.
Please help bright young Musembi go to school for only 50⊄ a week.
My trip to Kisesini
Just coming to the end of 2 weeks in Kenya..
Today was exciting and very long.
I was called at 4 am to look at a head wound. It was probably a skull fracture and I sent him to the hospital which was an hour away.
At just before 6 am a woman came in labor.
Only one nurse was at the clinic since the other 2 were doing the transport to the hospital.
I heard the motorcycle drive up so got up to investigate.
The woman was in very active labor and delivered about 10 minutes after we got her on the table. A beautiful girl. It was an easy delivery and the first one that I really got to do myself. Mom was up and bathing in 30 minutes, but it was her 5th baby.
Then we went out to do the development evals on the children. Drove for about 1 1/2 hours to a place that had a tiny nursery school, and nothing else around that I could see. The kids of course were very cute and mostly not too afraid. I think they all have pretty normal development and are amazing, since they can figure out how to put pegs in a peg board, even though I am sure they never even saw one before.
We finished the assessments and then had to wait for 2 hours for the truck to come pick us up. Drove another 1/2 hour, did a few more assessments and then it took 90 more minutes to get back. Finished at 6:30 pm, after leaving around 8 am.
We come home covered in dust. Take a bucket bath, but dusty again the next day.
We have numerous tough cases to try and find help for.
A boy with severe scoliosis at age 3. A girl with a growth in her eye. It is not affecting her vision, but it looks really weird.
I gave about $60 to a grandmother today to keep her daughter in school this term. Of course there are many more like them, but GHP can only support a few.
I really am amazed at the people here, they are kind, gentle and patient. The kids sometimes wait for 2-3 hours to get tested. They are happy for the pencil I give them.
Rifka Stern MD
We Have Twins!
To our most generous donors,
We cannot thank you enough for your generosity toward building and furnishing a first rate maternity center to serve the 35,000 people in the Kisesini Clinic service area.
The grand opening took place March 14, 2014. This was a wonderful reason to celebrate!
On March 27, the first twins were born in the new maternity center. Mother, Winifred Kanini, is showing her thanks as her mother-in-law, Mercy, holds one baby and her TBA (Traditional Birth Attendant) holds the other baby. Winifred and father, Albous Mutunga, also have a son at home.
With gratitude and hope for all the families who will be served by this beautiful maternity center,
The GHP team, Kenyan Health Ministry, nurses Nicholas, Vincent, and Theresa, and lab tech Justine
Good-by and good luck UNM medical students!
Good luck and good-by medical students! GHP coordinates research done to study the effectiveness of the health care projects we do in Kenya. We are always looking for ways to make improvements in the health of Kenyan families. The research is conducted and paid for through a collaboration with the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. Medical students are given a valuable opportunity for a cross-cultural and academic experience in a resource-poor developing country. They also have a chance to learn about community-based public health. The UNM student research projects provide GHP with important information about what is working and where program improvements are needed. The UNM students return home with knowledge, skills, and experience that can be applied to low-income rural settings here in New Mexico. A group of 23 UNM medical students leave for Kisesini on March 1 to study GHP projects on child malnutrition, newborn infant care, and the important role that village community health workers can play to improve the health of very low income families in remote villages. Dr. Angelo Tomedi, president of GHP and a member of the faculty of the UNM Department of Family and Community Medicine, will be supervising their research. The very best to you all on your journeys.
To see some of the publications generated by this research, see our “our projects” tab.
