KE 18 – SUPPORT FOR THE DISPENSARY OF AMAKURIAT
Project Location
The project is carried out in Amakuriat, Kenya, West Pokot – in the Catholic dispensary run by the Comboni Missionary Sisters that offers health services to the population of Amakuriat and nearby villages. Amakuriat is a village with many small villages dispersed in a large territory that has about 30,000 inhabitants.
The area is located in a semi-desert, rural area, far from important population centers, and borders Uganda where the Karamojong people, also semi-nomadic shepherds, live. In the territory resources such as water and pastures are scarce, and since the soil is fertile the shepherds over the years have learned to grow corn and beans but the seasonal rains are very unstable and often the harvest do not reach full maturity putting in serious difficulty families who struggle to find alternatives to support themselves.
This area is marginalized because it is far from the important centers and offers few services to the local population. The dispensary was built precisely to meet this situation.
Project description
The people of Amakuriat and nearby villages rely on our dispensary because it is an important reference to receive quality health care at very low costs. The dispensary has a small analysis laboratory, trained staff and every day receives many sick people who also come on foot from afar.
The dispensary is a very important point of reference, especially for pregnant women and children under 5 years old, thanks to its vaccination program and fight against malnutrition. The elderly are also assisted regularly by giving them food and blankets.
This project aims to cover in particular the costs of medicines and vaccines (which are very expensive, especially anti-rabies ones), assistance for HIV patients and the elderly and programs for mothers and children.
Objectives
- Offer quality medical care especially to pregnant women and children
- Guarantee assistance to the elderly and HIV patients
- Work in the area to prevent the most common diseases (typhoid, malaria) through hygiene lessons and prevention programs
Beneficiaries
Direct: the sick who come to the dispensary (about 9,500)
Indirect: about 30,000 inhabitants of the area
Referent sister of the project: Sr. Lucrecia Tiguila
Project's costs