“Do people pay for services during
these medical camps?” I asked.
“Absolutely not. We mobilize for
drugs, volunteer medical personnel
and other logistics. When we
take a medical camp to a village,
we treat everyone that turns up
for free. In fact sometimes we
organize for surgical camps and
take consultant surgeons to the
village to provide quality services
to people who could never have
afforded such level of healthcare.”
“You talked about health literacy,
please expound,” I inquired.
“Health literacy involves building
the capacity of healthcare
providers to do their work well,
especially through continuous
medical education; and creating
awareness in the community about
specific conditions or promoting
healthcare-seeking behaviours at
community level.”
14
She paused and looked at me,
and then added, “For example last
month on September 30th was
World Heart Day. Even though it
is a global day marked worldwide,
I organized for a Heart Walk and
mobilized several people and
local organizations including Kisii
University, Kisii Teaching and
Referral Hospital, private hospitals,
and companies to participate in
the Walk. We marched through
the streets of Kisii town to raise
awareness about cardiovascular
conditions. The climax was at Gusii
stadium where we held a half
marathon and free medical camp.
On that day alone we reached
over 3,500 people with targeted
information on heart health.” emergency but most of the time
I ask friends and well-wishers
to support. But we need a more
constant and sustainable funding
stream because the need is big
and we are unable to cope with the
demand.”
“Where do you get the money to
do all these activities? I asked.
“Funding has been our greatest
challenge. Sometimes I spend
my salary or savings if there is an
Change Magazine January 2018 www.changemag-diinsider.com
“You have been constantly
referring to ‘we’ or ‘our’. Who are
these people?” concerning this kind of violence.
Every year we organize a
Women in Health Empowerment
conference to raise awareness
about all forms of gender-based
violence including female genital
mutilation. We also participate
in the annual 16 days of activism
every November to team up with
other actors in the quest to end
this violence in our generation.”
She broadly grinned at this
question. “I cannot work alone.
I work with a team of excellent
volunteers. The success you see
must never be accredited to me
alone. For example, my husband is
one of my biggest donors. So I’m
not alone.” “Of course, cancer is emerging
as the biggest threat to human
existence now. We at HRC are
so keen on incorporating cancer
screening at each med