Lodwar – May 27, 2025 (Public Communications and Media Relations)
The Department of Health and Sanitation in collaboration with CommCare Connect hosted a stakeholder engagement meeting to discuss the upcoming roll-out of the CommCare Connect’s Child Health Campaign.
CommCare Connect is a solution that supports frontline health workers and health systems through innovative mobile technologies. This campaign aims to strengthen coordination, data-driven planning, and stakeholder engagement to improve child health outcomes across the county.
The pilot phase will focus on Turkana Central, specifically the Kanamkamer and Lodwar Township Wards. The implementation phase will run between August and November and will later be scaled to other sub-counties.
This project targets 30,000 children under the age of five and is scheduled to take place between May and November 2025. There will however be an initial trial period of 14 weeks between May and July targeting 3000 children with the rest to be included during the implementation period.
The campaign will feature onboarding of the Community Health Promoters (CHPs), system refinement, live data collection, and testing of the CommCare mobile application that will be used during the campaign to register, track, and report services for each child. The core services set to be delivered in the campaign period will be Vitamin A supplementation, deworming, and nutrition screening (Mid Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC), weight, and height).
CommCare Connect is widely used to enhance data collection, service delivery, and decision-making in health programs, particularly maternal and child health.
Therefore, the objective of this campaign will include increasing service coverage for children aged between six to 59 months in underserved and remote areas, digitally register and track every eligible child, and improve timeliness and accuracy of data to support evidence-based decision-making. This is in addition to strengthening CHPs performance and motivation through structured supervision and mobile-based task tracking as well as establishing a replicable and scalable digital model that can be integrated into the county’s routine health system for sustainability.
In his opening remarks, the Director for Community Health Services, Dr Joseph Lolepo said, child health is a foundational pillar of any health system, and its relevance extends far beyond the wellbeing of children alone.
“Child health influences the overall health status of the population, impacts economic productivity, and is a critical indicator of health equity and system performance,” he said.
CommCare Connect aligns with Turkana County’s commitment to innovation, equity, and community-based healthcare delivery, and has the potential to transform how child health campaigns are planned, implemented, and monitored.
Director Lolepo also emphasized that good child health sets the stage for healthier adulthood, “Healthy children are more likely to perform well in school and become productive adults. In contrast, poor child health burdens families and the healthcare system with increased costs among others.
During the discussions, the attendees highlighted that children are a key population in controlling communicable diseases. It was agreed upon that prioritizing child health is a strategic necessity. Therefore, this project will help close the gap in health disparities among different socioeconomic groups in Turkana County.
The forum was co-chaired by the Director (James Lobokan) and Deputy Director (Sarah Akiru) of the Directorate of Policy planning, Monitoring and Evaluation and Research whole the discussions. It included healthcare workers representing different programs from across the county including public health and community health officers, nursing officers, superintendents, clerks among others.
