The East African Center for the Empowerment of Women and Children offers both education and health programming to the Takaungu village sub-location. Our health programs include the Vutakaka Maternal and Reproductive Health Clinic, the Community Health Worker program, and extensive health education classes on a diverse range of topics.

Vutakaka Maternal and Reproductive Health Clinic

Opened in January of 2006, through the Vutakaka Maternal and Reproductive Health Clinic, we treated 667 sick children, and offered pre- and post-natal care to more than 650 women in 2008. Our clinic is run by a local head nurse with assistance from our Community Health Workers each morning.

Community Health Workers

Headed by our clinic nurse, our 8 Community Health Workers go door-to-door every morning to discuss nutrition, hygiene and sanitation, pit latrine construction, HIV/AIDS, malaria prevention, and child health. In 2008, our Community Health Workers saw more than 15,000 people during these home visits.

Health Education

In 2008, the health education programs took a new direction, focusing on a program called Stay Alive, an HIV/AIDS education program for 9 to 14 year old students in four local schools. The Stay Alive program will continue into 2009 with more advanced topics as our student's progress. The health department is also continuing to offer weekly field health education classes on a range of topics to a variety of community groups.

Due to an increased supply of drugs from the government hospitals and clinics, we have been able to offer our health services at a lower cost (10 KSh for adults and FREE for children). This has increased the number of patients coming to our clinic dramatically - sometimes we are seeing more than 50 a day with only one nurse! We want to thank our nurse, Valerian, and all of our Community Health Workers for putting in the extra time and effort to deal with this increase. The CHW's have learned how to properly dispense medicine, dress wounds, and weigh and evaluate babies. The team is a great support system for Valerian. We are so excited to be able to serve more of the community with our health programs, but it wouldn't be possible without our wonderful staff. More exciting news about the future of our CHW program coming over the next couple months!