ESIARAMBATSI HEALTH CENTRE

Project overview
Esiarambatsi Health Centre is one of the health centers established in the wider Emuhaya district to cater for the medical needs of the local people in the community. It’s a community-based health center which cares for mothers, children’s and also people living with HIV/AIDS. The centre also offers pre-and ante-natal cares to women. The local community is composed of the Luhya community which occupies the vast western Kenya region and the local people are hospitable and welcoming. HIV/AIDS is a major challenge in the local community that has resulted into many challenges that have had a negative impact on the socio-economic development of the community.
The health center is a community initiative that is currently run by the Ministry of health and has three nurses who work under a nursing officer in charge.
The center offers curative, preventative and promotion services.
Water is available from streams, rain water occasionally harvested and volunteers have the opportunity to learn to live in adversity and especially when Kenya grapples with the poverty challenge that is the single most obstacles to sustainable development.
Objectives
The main objective of the project is to provide health care to the community using locally available resources.
The empowerment program reaches out to ensure that the local community is integrated into the day to day activities and the role of the volunteers is to play the role of the catalyst to re-activate the process.
Most community members are small scale farmers who are not even able to produce enough food to support their own families
Target Group: The target group consists of community members.
Location: The project is located in Emuhaya District of the Western region of Kenya approximately eight hours drive from Nairobi city.
Nature of Work: Volunteers placed in this project will be involved in the following activities:
• Medical work in the dispensary such as registration of patients, giving out patients following the doctors’ description, observation and noting the progress of every patient, and cleanliness at the hospital.
• Family planning services, immunization, maternal and child health are some of the services offered at the project
• The volunteers will also be involved in awareness creation in the community to promote the sustainability of the livelihood among community members both in community forums and also in local schools. Moreover, volunteers placed in this project will engage the community members in a study topic: focus on public health and sanitation especially in the local schools to be able to develop a young generation that is equipped with information. Hence volunteers will be expected to work hand in hand with the hospital management to realize the goals of the placement in this project and thus enhance the capacity of the health facility.
• The volunteers will be assigned duties in the health facility by professional staff