Lodwar – 25th March 2025 (Public Communication and Media Relations)
The County One Health Unit, in collaboration with stakeholders, is in the process of developing a research tool to evaluate community priorities for evidence-based decision-making.
The tool, Community One Health Index (COHI), will be designed as a participatory, community-centered initiative that would aid in data collection and dissemination across all development sectors to enhance human, animal, and environmental health.
It will cover six thematic areas: nutrition, food safety, and security; livestock health and veterinary services; human health and healthcare; water resources and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH); pasture resources and rangeland health; and security, social, and economic issues.
Robert Rotich, One Health Coordinator from the Department of Health and Sanitation, stated that the proposed indicators of the COHI would facilitate the measuring of One Health activities to demonstrate its impact on the community, particularly the highly mobile pastoral communities.
“The indicators will be field-tested to ensure they support evidence-based decision-making, foster cross-sectoral collaboration, and promote policy-making,” he said.
Phillip Ewoton, Welthungerhilfe Project Coordinator – Turkana County, highlighted that the tool takes into account a multi-sectoral view, its objective and informative and demonstrates the importance of One Health.
“Research conducted using these indicators will provide a clear understanding of community interventions, thereby justifying the course of action,” he said.
A senior gender officer, Hellen Emojo, noted that integrating gender mainstreaming into One Health initiatives would improve livelihoods and reduce gender inequality through equitable role-sharing.
“This tool will help people understand what One Health stands for. If all stakeholders play their role in its implementation, it will greatly benefit the community,” said Dr Agnes Mukunya, a county veterinary officer.
Leading the development process, Evans Griffith, a One Health researcher and PhD candidate at Tufts University, stated that COHI’s goal is to serve as a unifying initiative across sectors, fostering two-way communication between communities and policymakers.
Other county representatives included officers from water and environment departments, along with partner representatives from GIZ, Friends of Lake Turkana, Concern Worldwide, the National Drought Management Authority, USAID Imarisha Jamii, the Kenya Forestry Research Institute, Turkana Pastoralist Development Organization and the Agency for Cross-Border Pastoralists Development.
