Afya Uzazi was a five-year project funded through a cooperative agreement between the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Family Health International (FHI 360). The project is led by a consortium of FHI 360, Marie Stopes Kenya (MSK), Management Sciences for Health (MSH), and Family Health Options Kenya (FHOK).
It was aimed at improving Family Planning/ Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal, Child, and Adolescent Health (FP/RMNCAH), nutrition and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) practices and service utilization through demand generation activities and quality care provision in the focus sub-counties of Baringo North, Baringo Central, Marigat, and Mogotio in Baringo County and Kuresoi North and Kuresoi South in Nakuru County. Key elements of the program included an emphasis on youth and gender interventions, a rights-based approach, data-driven decision-making, and sustainability to specifically achieve;
i. Increased availability and quality delivery of FP/RMNCAH, and
ii. Increased care-seeking and healthy behaviors for FP/RMNCAH.
Through strong coordination and collaboration among health facilities, community-based initiatives, and county governments of Nakuru and Baringo Afya Uzazi program recorded substantial progress towards increasing access, availability, and demand for high quality, equitable, and gender-sensitive FP/RMNCAH services despite the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions in year 4 and 5.
Key Achievements
• 1,902 households were supported to construct latrines, 10,718 to harvest rainwater, 8,502 to establish kitchen gardens, 13,179 to plant trees 2, 041 to establish energy-saving stoves, and 28,198 educated on the benefits of healthy timing and spacing of pregnancy.
• Improved antenatal utilization from 59.5% in year one to 87% in year five.
• Improved four or more antenatal care visits from 26% in year one to 46.3% in year five.
• Improved skill birth attendance service utilization from 32% in year one to 47% in year five
• Improved postnatal care service utilization within three days from 10% in year one to 52% in year five
• 224,151 clients received FP methods out of which 129,255 (53%) were new acceptors.
• FP uptake among youth ages 10-24 years improved from 9,617 in year one to 20,018 in year five
• Fully immunized children at 12 months of age improve from 70% in year one to 81% in year five.
• Through a community-led total sanitation approach the project engaged 273 communities and certified 114 as open-defecation free.
• Trained 2,119 public and private sector healthcare workers on long-acting and permanent methods of family planning.
• Uptake of kangaroo mother care improved from 16% in year two to 98% in year five.
• 91% of perinatal deaths were audited and 100% of maternal deaths were reviewed.
• Of the 82,592 diarrheal illness cases reported, 71,969 (87.1%) were appropriately managed with ORS and Zinc
• 332,539 children were reached with nutrition-specific services.