A medical outreach team from Enga Baptist Health Services travelled using an MAF aircraft to Kaiam airstrip to deliver essential healthcare services to remote communities in Kaiam and Namata.
Story by Hillim Gitonga
Despite the team arriving at night and working within a narrow window to reach patients, they were able to manoeuvre across the difficult terrain that would have taken days to access but thanks to MAF, the team was able to arrive early.
The outreach lead by Maureen Maharigu, offered services like screening, malaria testing, wound dressing, child health clinic, immunisation, family planning and health education.
Since the people of Kaiam are known for their nomadic way of life since the families often don’t have enough food which makes them malnourished, this has caused a massive spread of TB in the area as poor nutrition weakens the body immunity to fight diseases.
Health education sessions focused on TB, malaria, nutrition, hygiene, exclusive breastfeeding and yaws awareness.
A total of 36 community members attended the sessions while 116 children received immunisation.
During this patrol, 4 TB patients were found to have defaulted on treatment which led to one dying in Kompiam.
Kompiam Hospital doctor, Diana Zwinjnenburg said, “Reaching patients in these areas is often a race against time and if MAF was not there to drop us off there would have been no way to serve these communities.”
Sometimes people hear that we are coming and they start walking for days. They may arrive too late and sometimes we cannot do anything anymore
Some cases patients only reach care after long journeys on foot when their condition is already severe.
When they arrive, they are often already very sick. Health literacy is very low, and many people don’t understand prevention or the importance of early care and good nutrition
The outreach continues to show value of regular patrols with the help of MAF despite having these challenges. Without MAF, many of these communities would remain cut off from medical care. MAF allows health workers to reach remote areas quickly and also deliver supplies making it an essential link in sustaining rural health services.
Maureen Maharigu noted the progress, even if slow.
Though the change is small, it is encouraging. This is hope that more people will continue gardening and build stronger immunity to fight TB and other diseases in the future