2018-2021
SAVING LIVES THROUGH SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY HEALTH SYSTEMS
© Living Goods
2018-2021
LIVING GOODS
Living Goods works in partnership with governments to build sustainable community health systems. The organisation implemented its community health worker model in Uganda with extraordinary success and began replicating it in Kenya in 2015. We supported its efforts to fully reach western Kenya. In 2020, we funded its work tackling the COVID-19 crisis in the country, while ensuring the continuity of essential community health services.
CHALLENGE
© Living Goods
ACTION
Living Goods supports thousands of government community health workers in Kenya to ensure they are digitally enabled, properly equipped, effectively supervised, and fairly compensated.
Living Goods also works with the Kenyan Government and individual counties to develop the policies and tools necessary to strengthen and sustain community health systems and work towards universal health coverage.
In 2019, Living Goods assisted the government’s first digital community health data initiative, to enhance the availability of decision-making support data.
As well as providing maternal and child health support, Living Goods also piloted the extension of community health worker services to include family planning, immunisation, counselling, and referral services.
IMPACT
By mid-2021, Living Goods was supporting over 12,200 community health workers in Kenya and Uganda, serving approximately 9.1 million people in both countries. Living Goods-supported community health workers saved an estimated 17,000-19,000 lives in 2020, nearly twice as many as in 2019. Preliminary results of a randomised control trial show that the Living Goods model reduced under-five mortality by 30% and infant mortality by 27%.
COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKERS SUPPORTED
In Kenya and Uganda by mid-2021
PEOPLE SERVED BY COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKERS
In Kenya and Uganda by mid-2021
REDUCTION IN UNDER-FIVE MORTALITY
in communities where Living Goods works
REDUCTION IN INFANT MORTALITY
in communities where Living Goods works
COVID-19 EMERGENCY SUPPORT
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Living Goods ensured the continuity of essential community health services and supported the Kenyan government’s response with technical advice and critical supplies. It also trained all Living Goods staff and community health workers in seven counties in COVID-19 prevention, early case detection, reporting procedures, and personal safety measures.
© Living Goods
14 Apr 2021
Combatting Covid-19 worldwide
More than a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, the sprint to respond to the global health crisis has turned into a marathon. This is a tribute to the decisive work of the organisations we’ve been funding worldwide to assist those most in need.
15 Mar 2021
Predicting needs to target care
Is it possible to use data modelling to leverage the data collected by community health workers and predict households likely to need urgent care? Living Goods is doing it and it works.
11 Jan 2021
Why we need data science
Our new series #Driven by Data will explore how data analytics is helping fix some of the world’s most pressing issues, improving the way development actors identify problems and design tailor-made interventions to address them.
28 May 2020
The frontliners
Though it’s difficult to project what trajectory the outbreak is likely to follow the effective deployment of community health workers could really be a game changer, backed up by Africa’s invaluable know-how from fighting past epidemics.
