Lodwar – September 11, 2025 (Public Communications and Media Relations)
Following a trainer of trainers (ToTs) sensitization on Integrated Community Case Management (iCCM) with Community Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM), the county government has concluded cascading the training to Community Health Promoters (CHPs) in Loima and Turkana Central sub-counties.
The 11-day grassroots training on common childhood illness was a partnership between the Department of Health and Sanitation, UNICEF, and Save the Children.
The CHPs were capacity built with the skills to identify, screen, treat, and refer common childhood illnesses such as malaria, pneumonia, diarrhoea, and malnutrition at the community level.
Chief Officer for Preventive and Promotive Health Services, Janerose Tioko applauded the integration efforts, stressing that research and innovation are key in advancing Turkana’s long-term health goals.
“This initiative highlights the county’s commitment to strengthening community health systems, especially in remote and underserved areas. It is expected to significantly reduce preventable child deaths while building stronger and resilient communities,” she said.
Director of Policy Planning, Research, Monitoring and Evaluation, Lobokan James stated that empowering CHPs to manage acute malnutrition will help improve health outcomes for all children in the county.
“The CHPs have demonstrated full commitment to the programme implementation and are capable of realizing the appropriate treatment or referral outcomes,” he added.
Loima Sub-County Medical Officer of Health (MOH), Gabriel Ekuwam termed these skills honed by the CHPs as lifeline factors in their capacity to mitigate common diseases especially for under fives.
Speaking about the ongoing research by Save the Children and Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), the Save The Children Program Manager, Abdalla Shariff, said this operational research is critical because it goes beyond implementation.
“It seeks to generate evidence that informs child survival national policies and contribute to the ongoing discussions on expanding the scope of work for CHPs to treat children with malnutrition,” he added.
The County and Sub-County Health management teams and representatives from UNICEF and Save the Children were supervising in the different sub-counties.
