Aga Khan University’s Institute for Human Development, IHD is promoting advocacy efforts geared towards supporting Community Health Volunteers, CHVs. Through a conference that brought together local and regional organisations that support Early Childhood Development interventions, the Institute held discussions around policy recommendations for community health volunteers.
At the grassroots level, CHVs have direct access to mothers before, during and after childbirth. As a result, enhancing their capacity is vital in helping Kenya address its child health issues.
Stephen Mulupi, research specialist at IHD, said one way of enhancing the performance of CHVs is to give them financial support.
“We need to provide adequate and timely stipends to motivate community health volunteers to continue doing their work. In some areas, they have used their own finances to help families meet the nutritional needs of their children.”
The recommendations shared by Mr Mulupi were drawn from an
IHD study on child development in marginalized communities.
Dr Maureen Kimani, head of the Division of Community Health at the Ministry of Health, said the government is in the process of developing a training curriculum that would guide CHVs in promoting proper child development.
“In policy formation, the government relies heavily on research and looks out for the best practices locally and globally,” she said.
The conference provided a platform for various stakeholders to share their experiences and recommendations in building the capacity of CHVs so as to enable them promote Early Childhood Development in the country.
“It is important to keep sharing our experiences, evidence, best practices and everything that we have learned through research. This will help inform policy around ECD in this country and help us fill prevailing gaps,” said IHD Director Prof Amina Abubakar.
