- By Alessandra Grasso
- Posted 09/01/2015
Health Units in Busia County, Kenya
In Busia County, Kenya, malnutrition is a staggering problem, especially for women, children and people living with HIV/AIDs. Many households subsist on farming activities and are negatively affected by the unpredictable climate, contributing to a vicious cycle of poverty, food insecurity and malnutrition.In response, the Biodiversity for Food and Nutrition (BFN) Project is working with the Department of Health and Community Health Workers (CHWs) to establish demonstration gardens in seven community health units or dispensaries throughout Busia County.
The aim is to provide healthy food to the most vulnerable (women, children, elderly and ill), and to teach households climate-smart sustainable gardening technologies for improved dietary diversity. CHWs are the frontline health workers in Kenya, consisting of Community Health Extension Workers (CHEWs) and Community Health Volunteers (CHVs). Selected by their respective village, CHWs are based out of the dispensary units, the lowest tier health facility.
Each CHW provides care to one hundred homes, even the most remote. CHWs may be a vessel to disseminate kitchen gardening technologies and food processing and preservation methods, as they provide health promotion and health monitoring services and interact with community members, most commonly women.
They have the potential to increase knowledge of the nutritional value of under-utilized traditional foods, recipes and cooking methods for increased diet diversity, resulting in better absorption of nutrients, sustainable income-generating activities and enhanced food security throughout the year.
“Community health workers are taking a food-based approach to combat malnutrition by sensitizing the community to the nutritional value of locally available foods and to advanced, yet cheap and sustainable, methods to prepare, grow, harvest and cook healthy foods for themselves and their families.” - Alessandra Grasso
Seven health units in seven Sub-counties of Busia have been identified to establish demonstration gardens for CHWs to raise awareness of the importance of biodiversity for food and nutrition. With BFN assisting with the Training of Trainers (ToT) workshops and seed provision for local and traditional vegetables, each community health unit contributed human capacity and local resources and assets, such as land, tree seedlings, gardening hoes and sticks for fences, to establish a teaching garden.
In Matayos Sub-County, CHWs at Busibwabo Dispensary Unit are taking their demonstration plot a step further by displaying healthy traditional leafy vegetables using various kitchen gardening technologies, such as keyhole, mandala, multi-storey, tumbukiza and raised gardens.
The Unit is currently harvesting spring onions, amaranths, slender leaves, pumpkin leaves, cowpeas, spider plant, black nightshade, vine spinach and African kales. Given the County’s vulnerability to climate change and increasing population pressures, kitchen garden technologies provide opportunities for individuals, particularly women, to own a successful kitchen garden abundant with nutrient-rich traditional foods.
The CHWs are taking a food-based approach to combat malnutrition, sensitizing the community to the nutritional value of locally available foods and to advanced, yet cheap and sustainable, methods to prepare, grow, harvest and cook healthy foods for themselves and their families.