“Serving my community is the most fulfilling work I have done so far. It comes with challenges, especially in my area due to the shortage of community health volunteers. Still, we are managing well so far,” says Euridice Njagi, a community health worker (CHV) in Gatua Community Health Unit, Tharaka Nithi County.
Euridice covers 324 households instead of the recommended 110 households. Every day she commits two hours to visit at least one household as she is expected to report on 20 households monthly. She mainly focuses on providing health education related to hygiene and sanitation to the households she serves. She also advises expectant mothers and those with infants on the importance of attending pre and postnatal clinics, following up, and ensuring that infants get fully vaccinated and receive adequate dietary nutrition.
Euridice is one of the few Lead CHVs who have been trained by partners like Village HopeCore International on different community health services. They have also been provided with teaching aids and flip books that she uses when conducting health education.
Euridice faces many challenges while on duty, including walking long distances in rugged terrains to reach some households, resistance, hostility from some families, and lack of performance-based incentives. These challenges often demotivate most CHVs from carrying out services such as TB and HIV/AIDS default tracing.
Euridice is particularly passionate about nutrition and has set up a workshop where she processes and packages indigenous foods and sells them to the community at an affordable price. She carries the food with her during her visits and often gives it to any malnourished child she encounters through her work. She also teaches families how to create kitchen gardens and consume their farm produce instead of selling it to buy refined foods.
Her parting shot: “I love my work and will keep doing my best to the community. Since we started serving, I have seen a lot of change; people are now healthier and happier.”