Kenya has launched an innovative community-based program to tackle severe child malnutrition in its arid and semi-arid (ASAL) regions, with Marsabit, Turkana, and Mandera counties selected as pilot sites.
The initiative comes as global data reveals only one in three severely wasted children receives life-saving treatment, with access challenges in Kenya exacerbated by long distances to health facilities, underdeveloped health systems, and low community awareness.
From June 25 to 27, Concern Worldwide Kenya hosted a Training of Trainers (ToT) workshop in Nairobi for 23 county health representatives, 9 women and 14 men from the three target counties.
Concern Worldwide Kenya said the session equipped participants with skills to implement a government-led research program that integrates acute malnutrition treatment into the existing Integrated Community Case Management (iCCM) platform.
The initiative, developed in partnership with UNICEF, Save the Children International, and county governments, aims to generate evidence on the effectiveness of using trained community health workers to identify and treat wasting at the household level.
As stated by Concern Worldwide Kenya, the program represents a shift from facility-based care to community-driven solutions, addressing barriers that leave many children without treatment.
Recent studies indicate that community health workers can successfully manage acute malnutrition when properly trained and supported.
Nairobi workshop focused on refining training plans, improving supervision systems, and optimizing the iCCM toolkit for the rollout.
If successful, the pilot could pave the way for nationwide adoption of decentralised waste treatment, particularly in hard-to-reach ASAL regions where malnutrition rates remain high.
The approach aligns with Kenya’s efforts to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC) by bringing essential health services closer to vulnerable populations.