Health Rights in Kenya

Sarah and I have been back from Kenya for a few weeks now and have had time to reflect on our trip—our many site visits, the HERAF conference, meetings we had with colleagues and a special breakfast with medical/nursing students.

The lessons learned were many and the importance of our partnership with HERAF clear. PHR’s commitment to building an international movement of health professionals dedicated to the right to health for all remains strong and energized as a result of these experiences.

In one of the closing sessions of the conference, I had the privilege of reading a letter written by Paul Farmer (PDF), an HAA advisor. He applauded HERAF, and all those health professionals in attendance, for their commitment to health as a human right. He stated:

A lack of health infrastructure is no reason for inaction; rather, it is a clarion call to action! Let’s talk about food, about sutures, medications, electricity, water and other basic goods…we must link all of our projects to re-building health systems, poverty alleviation and food security to governments and global health policy.

His final statement was: “So, let’s get going!”

In keeping with this message HERAF acknowledged that it has significant work to do in 2008—and the momentum and energy to make it happen. At the end of the conference, HERAF National Coordinator Miano Munene outlined several education and advocacy campaigns which HERAF will move forward over the next year. These include:

• Continuing to build a movement of health workers from across Kenya who are mobilized to advocate for health rights
• Raising awareness of health rights through education, outreach and media engagement
• Advocating for increased and effective health sector financing and improved civil society participation in the budget making process
• Addressing stigma in health settings through education and training as well as through policy promotion, especially around the HIV/AIDS Act of 2006
• Advocating for a strong national health workforce policy in Kenya to ensure quality, equitable health care delivery for all
• Supporting polices and programs that address women and girls unique vulnerability to HIV/AIDAS, and the human rights violations that fuel this vulnerability

These plans may seem ambitious, and they are. But we think HERAF and PHR can do it. We invite you all to join us on this continuing journey—keep checking the PHR Health Action AIDS page for updates, ideas and opportunities for collaboration, and please contact us if you have ideas or thoughts moving forward.

Together, we can change the health rights outcomes for millions and make the world a more equitable, healthy, prosperous place.

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After a week in Kenya, on Thursday I attended a number of different institutions and discussions. Perhaps most moving and concerning was that involving a group of lawyers who researched and discussed violations against women in the Kenyan Healthcare system in a report entitled Failure to Deliver (PDF). Over a hundred women were interviewed about their experiences in the healthcare system, and the stories were frightening. They reported being hit, yelled at, bitten and ridiculed by healthcare workers for being pregnant. Those at highest risk were those also infected with HIV. Such discrimination and abuse was sobering, and although it is likely linked to the poor working conditions of the healthcare staff (underpaid, twenty hour workdays, hundreds of patients, poor facilities, lack of supplies), such behavior is intolerable and demands attention and support.

We also visited a group called WOFAK (Women fighting AIDS). They are doing front-line work by providing care, support, job training and referrals for thousands of women and girls who are living with HIV/AIDS. Again they struggle with lack of resources, staff and discrimination against women, but are committed to their work and are excited about a facility that will be built by the Italians in the year to come.

I am so impressed by the work being done by these organizations, but feel overwhelmed by the task facing them. I am excited to return to the states to advocate for continued support and increased funds for the work being done in East Africa. This epidemic is far from over, and the socioeconomic issues continue to fuel this fire. The staff of PHR and HERAF have been inspirational in their work. I look forward to working with them in the future. There’s much work to be done!

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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.

(more…)

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Lissy and Sarah have been telling you about what the Health Action AIDS delegation has been doing. The delegation includes Physicians for Human Rights staff, but it is also made up of three health professional members of the Health Action AIDS Campaign. In this post, I’d like to give you a brief introduction to the health professionals who have come from the US to be part of this delegation.

• Suzanne Jed, MSN, APRN-BC is an Instructor in clinical Family Medicine at the University of Southern California. She currently provides care to HIV-infected adult and pediatric patients at the Maternal, Child, and Adolescent/Adult Virology and Infectious Disease Clinic and is Program Development Director for the USC Pacific AIDS Education and Training Center. Born in San Jose, Costa Rica, Suzanne is a native Spanish speaker. She relocated to the United States to pursue her nursing education. A graduate of Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, she practiced family medicine for five years prior to transitioning into the field of HIV/AIDS care and education. She has traveled extensively and has provided training and mentoring in HIV/AIDS nursing in Ethiopia.

• Mark Rolfe, MD is a family medicine practitioner with a special interest in HIV medicine. He established his practice in this area in 2001, and treats over 100 adults with HIV in rural Maine. He is board certified by the American Board of Family Medicine and board certified in HIV medicine by the American Academy of HIV Medicine.

• Christopher Shaw, RN is an HIV/AIDS certified nurse in the Infectious Disease Department at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Christopher has been working in the HIV field since 1985, when he cared for patients in a South Bronx hospital and a hospice in Greenwich Village. Among many projects, he has helped set up HIV treatment sites in South Africa, educated health workers about treatment in Ethiopia, and co-founded “Sibusiso” (a Zulu word meaning blessing) a non-profit organization based in Boston that partners with HIV programs in the KZN and the Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa to support health care workers.

Pat Daoust, MSN, RN is Campaign Director of the Physicians for Human Rights Health Action AIDS Campaign.

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