A child’s physical health has significant implications on his or her long-term holistic development.
Compassion’s program is designed to ensure children have what they need to grow and develop into all God created them to be. Safeguarding the health of children living in poverty is essential to improving their quality of life, enabling them to stay in school and supporting their holistic development.
A few of the health areas we focus on include:
Proper nutrition plays a key role in children’s holistic development because, in addition to physical health, it supports cognitive, behavioral and motor skill development.
When children attend Compassion’s program, learn about proper nutrition, eating and preparing healthy foods, as well as the importance of physical exercise to keep their bodies healthy. Churches also host regular medical checkups with local health clinics and doctors to track children’s growth and look for any signs of malnutrition, stunting or medical issues that require treatment.
When health or nutritional concerns arise, the church is empowered to seek the necessary treatment with local resources and Compassion funds that are readily available.
When larger medical issues arise that require surgery or other costly treatments, Compassion Kenya staff work with the church to find quality treatment at a reasonable cost.
Compassion supplements local resources with funding to cover treatment, follow-up care and any travel that may be required. It is our goal to help children receive timely treatment, so they can return to school and focus on learning, playing, and reaching for the bright future ahead of them.
Malaria Prevention and Education Children are especially vulnerable to malaria and its negative effects. In 2019, children under 5 years old accounted for 67% of malaria deaths worldwide.[1] Children living in poverty are at especially high risk, so Compassion Kenya is working with churches to provide protection through insecticide-treated mosquito nets, a proven method for reducing cases of malaria. Churches also host information sessions to educate parents on the effective use of mosquito nets and how to reduce the risk of contracting malaria by avoiding activity near areas with standing water, where mosquitos breed.
While progress is being made to reduce the incidence of HIV/AIDS in Kenya, it continues to be an area of great concern. In 2020, the number of children living with HIV in Kenya was 111,500. In the same year, youth (15-24 years old) accounted for 35 percent of new infections.
Compassion Kenya’s response is two-fold, including anti-retroviral treatment for those infected with HIV/AIDs, and broad education focused on awareness of transmission methods and prevention through risk-avoidance behavior. Efforts to reduce HIV/AIDS infection permeates every aspect of our program:
Protecting children is central to Compassion’s mission. Our staff and partners work tirelessly to safeguard children from all forms of abuse and exploitation, including physical, emotional, sexual abuse and neglect. Children living in poverty are particularly vulnerable to abuse, neglect and exploitation. Compassion and our church partners are committed to serving as child advocate for children in need. Compassion’s approach to child protection is comprehensive:
Using data to specialize programs and improve interventions by optimizing outcome achievement for children in the program.
We are here to enable national offices to collect high quality data, and consume that data accurately, to make actionable choices. This includes qualitative and quantitative data, ranging from short-term monitoring to long-term impact.
Compassion Kenya is committed to quality program in partnership with the local church. Our research and evaluation strategy emphasizes program outcomes. We truly want children and youth to gain the knowledge, skills and confidence they need to be released from poverty. We believe data, complemented by ongoing dialogue, is key to ensuring program quality, so we have developed a process for regularly monitoring program impact at a local level. Then we – in partnership with the church – evaluate gaps, apply learnings and respond with innovation and agility.
Compassion Kenya has a team of research and evaluation specialists whose primary function is to measure and document the extent to which our programs are achieving our mission. Here are the tools we use:
© 2021 Compassion International, all Rights Reserved. Privacy Statement and Conditions of Use Disclosure Statement, Compassion strives to protect children from all forms of abuse.
Compassion International is a registered NGO Trademarks of Compassion International, Inc No. 58569 under the Trademarks Act, (Cap 506).
