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Kenya: The EU and WHO Working Together to Defeat COVID-19 in Kenya

Published

5 years ago

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The EU through its Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations department (ECHO) has donated KES 270 million (2,573,105 Million Euros) to WHO Kenya. This grant will be used by the WHO to support the Government of Kenya’s efforts to control the spread of the pandemic. Specifically, WHO Kenya will boost the response effort by training frontline health workers at national and county levels and strengthen the current work being done by the COVID-19 rapid response and clinical teams across all counties.

It will also be used to support risk communication and community engagement activities in areas that have been identified as hot spots across the counties. The strategies being used include airing of messages in local languages on 21 radio stations and other information platforms, engaging community leaders and the public in order to change individual behaviour, and building the capacity of health workers as they support the community response to the pandemic. Additional technical personnel will also be deployed to the counties to support these activities.

“The grant comes at a critical time when we are dealing with community transmission and need urgent response measures to stop further spread,” Dr Rudi Eggers, WHO Representative said. Thanking the EU Ambassador to Kenya, Mr Simon Mordue, he said the ECHO funding would go a long way to support WHO interventions in the county and the implementation of guidelines at national and county levels. “It is critical that health workers in all health facilities across the country are knowledgeable about the various aspects of the Coronavirus so that they are able to protect themselves, their families and their patients as well,” Dr Eggers said.