Health Rights in Kenya

The HERAF Conference is over, but it was another full day for the Health Action AIDS delegation. Here is an overview of what we did today.

8:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. Meeting with the USAID Capacity Project
The Capacity Project is funded by USAID, and works with the Ministry of Health in Kenya to build and sustain the health workforce. Capacity Project works to improve workforce policies and planning, develop better education and training programs for the workforce, and strengthen systems to support workforce performance. Currently, the Capacity Project has implemented low-cost work climate improvement interventions in 5 sites throughout Kenya (it is expanding), which will provide a foundation for understanding what determines performance of the health workforce. Capacity Project staff members are very interested in workplace culture among health professionals in Kenya, as well as a pervasive negative attitude among health workers, an area that HERAF members have also identified as an advocacy priority.

10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Meeting with the Federation of Women Lawyers in Kenya (FIDA-Kenya)
The Federation of Women Lawyers in Kenya (FIDA-Kenya) works to eliminate norms and practices that discriminate against women. The organization offers legal services and public litigation, creates awareness of women’s legal rights, researches and reports on violations of women’s rights, lobbies for law and policy reform and monitors the implementation and enforcement of key legislation. In collaboration with the Center for Reproductive Rights, FIDA recently released a report entitled “Failure to Deliver: Violations of Women’s Human Rights in Kenyan Health Facilities,” which documents hundreds of cases of flagrant human rights abuses of women in maternity wards throughout Kenya. The report makes recommendations for health workers, health professional associations, health facilities and management, civil society and the Kenyan government.

The delegation met with Claris Oganga, Legal Counsel at FIDA and one of the lead researchers on the project.

12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. Meeting with Women Fighting AIDS in Kenya (WOFAK)
Women Fights AIDS in Kenya (WOFAK) was formed in 1993 by a group of women, the majority of whom were HIV positive. They came together to provide support to one another, and have been reaching out to women infected with and affected by HIV/AIDS ever since. WOFAK provides care and support services and implements many programs, including individual and group therapy, medical care using both conventional and alternative medicines, home and hospital care visits, training of caregivers and guardians, nutritional support, economic support and empowerment, as well as community education and advocacy.

WOFAK currently coordinates the “Stop AIDS Now!” campaign in Kenya, of which the Kenya Human Rights Commission and HERAF are partners. The project focuses on gender in relation to HIV, and seeks to promote local-level HIV prevention activities that advance egalitarian gender-based attitudes and behavior, as well as women’s rights. One aspect of the project is to improve the legal and social environment for women and girls. The Kenya Human Rights Commission will provide legal services for women and girls who have been victims of gender-based violence.

2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Visit to the Hope Center at Coptic Mission Hospital
The Hope Center at Coptic Mission Hospital offers comprehensive and free HAART treatment. It was jointly established by the Coptic Orthodox Mission and the University of Washington, and is currently funded through PEPFAR. The Center has initiated comprehensive and fully subsidized HIV/AIDS management to over 8,000 clients across several sites in Kenya. The Hope Center provides an individually-focused treatment preparation and clinical monitoring system called the “HAART Protocol.” The HAART Protocol assesses the readiness of an individual to begin the lifelong ARV therapy both clinically and psychologically. It also ensures the delivery of comprehensive care services in the form of 3 sessions of adherence counseling, nutritional counseling, social work services, clinical monitoring for complications and semi-annual lab-testing.

The visit will began with a presentation on Coptic Mission Hospital and the Hope Center, led by two program officers. We then took a tour of the facilities, after which the delegation had an opportunity to sit and discuss with health workers at the Hope Center. Following this, we sat and talked with a patient at the Hope Center, who is also employed by Coptic Mission Hospital as an outreach worker.

4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. Visit with Professor Joseph G. Karanja, Chairman of the Board at Pumwani Maternity Hospital
Professor Joseph Karanja is a member of the KMA and the Kenya Gynecological and Obstetrics Society (KOGS). He has been very active in the Reproductive Health and Rights Alliance here in Kenya, which was able to help launch FIDA’s report on violations of women’s human rights in Kenyan health facilities. Professor Karanja was recently named Chairman of the Board at Pumwani Maternity Hospital (PMH), one of the largest maternity hospitals in East Africa, handling between 25,000-28,000 deliveries each year.

Pumwani Maternity Hospital’s patients are among the poorest and the youngest women in Kenya, making them particularly vulnerable to discrimination and abuse. According to the FIDA-Kenya report, women who have delivered at PMH describe decades of egregious rights violations. A Kenyan journalist once commented that “For some time, going to Pumwani has been like a death sentence… women either lost their lives, or lost their babies.” PMH refused multiple requests from FIDA and CRR researchers. It is critical to note that the arrival of Professor Karanja is an important and welcome change in the hospital’s management.

7:30 p.m. Dinner with Frederick Omiah of the National Nursing Association of Kenya

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