Discuss one of the public healthcare agencies or organizations in your community and their community outreach efforts. Consider questions such as: How do they reach people? Whom do they partner with? Who funds them? What programs do they provide and whom do they serve? Support your response with at least 1 reference.
Healthcare Outreach Activities
How They Reach People and Whom They Serve
The core of their outreach is the Community Health Unit (CU), which is linked to a health facility and serves a population of approximately 5,000 people.
Frontline Workers: The direct link to the community is the Community Health Promoter (CHP), formerly known as the Community Health Volunteer (CHV). These CHPs are trained, supervised by Community Health Assistants (CHAs), and assigned to specific households within a defined geographical area (Kenya Ministry of Health, 2020).
The Service Model: CHPs conduct household visits to provide promotive, preventive, and basic curative services. They focus on identifying health issues at the household level, providing basic first aid and advice, and making referrals to the nearest primary health facility.
Sample Answer
The public healthcare agency I will discuss is the Kisumu County Government Department of Medical Services, Public Health, and Sanitation in Kenya, focusing on their Primary Health Care (PHC) initiatives. This department is the central public body responsible for coordinating and delivering health services to the residents of Kisumu County, which includes significant community outreach.
🏥 Kisumu County Health Services: Community Outreach
The Kisumu County health department's community outreach efforts are largely structured around the national Community Health Strategy (CHS), which is the foundational Level 1 of Kenya's health service delivery model (Kenya Ministry of Health, 2020).