“What did I do today? Well, I made a glorious spreadsheet . . .” This was perhaps not the response my parents expected when they imagined me doing field work in Kenya. Getting my hands dirty, meeting dozens of children at every turn, and getting sunburnt were probably more what they had in mind. But my time at the Christian Health Association of Kenya (CHAK) was no less valuable for all the “luxuries” I had at my disposal: talented and knowledgeable coworkers, clean databases, great food, and (mostly) reliable electricity.
One of the important tasks a public health practitioner must tackle is developing a picture of the health system in a given country. How it works, who uses it, how is it funded, that sort of thing. This is often done from afar through national reports and databases. For me, I spent many hours learning about the different ways data from HIV/AIDS programs are reported. Contrary to being dry and procedural, this was a little like detective work—my goal was to trace information from a facility up to the national level across several different reports. Where were the proverbial apples and oranges? What’s an apple, anyway? Who said what? When? What did they have to do in order to say “x”? This process helped me learn about the strengths of different data sets and gave me insight into how they could be compared, or even improved.
A major help to me in this was the quality of CHAK’s systems and the skill of its employees. We were able to work together to tell a story about how everything fit together, what could be trusted, and why. A key strength of their programs is their focus on accurate and reliable data. This was made clear in the training sessions I attended for Kenyan health workers, who learned how to use data to improve their programs. I was also able to see it in action during my field work, where I conducted interviews and focus groups at three hospitals in different parts of Kenya. Clients and staff shared their experiences with me about the HIV programs and the relationships between and among patient, health worker, and institution. It is clear that CHAK’s programs are excellent—services are provided with a caring, compassionate focus on the human needs of patients. This attitude was often framed as intricately tied up in the faith-based background of the hospital, which was itself bound to the goal of providing quality services. One does not cause the other, but for many people the link between them, both today and historically, is inextricable.
How faith-based services compare to others in Kenya is a question that is still unanswered. But the perception that there are benefits to the faith-based approach is common. Even where it’s not, the commitment to serving the needs of Kenyans with HIV is undeniably strong. I was proud to see it in action.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Emily Griswold is an MPH Candidate 2014 in Global Health at the Rollins School of Public Health