October 1st-5th, Region Västerbotten participated in a program for youth health in Homa Bay County, Kenya.
The host, department of health in the county government of Homa Bay, created a very good and inspiring program for the team from Region Västerbotten. Some members of the team was there for the first time, and some members had been there many times before.
The project is working with capacity building at the institutional level, and towards goals that is agreed by the parties. It is of critical importance to improve service delivery for youth health, and with special focus on sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) and mental health.
Besides of workshops and study visits related to these challenges, the host also presented their improvements in the health sector, for example the newly build maternal wing, and the telemedicin center. These improvements are tremendous achievements due to the hard work by the team, and support by HE Gladys Wanga, Governor of Homa Bay County.
We are looking forward to host the team from Homa Bay County next year. Meanwhile, both partners will continue working towards the objectives of the partnership, which are stated in the project application.
The project is funded by Swedish International Centre for Local Democracy (ICLD).
I am contracted by Center for Rural Medicine, Region Västerbotten, as the coordinator of the partnership.
The photo is from the newly buildt maternal wing at Homa Bay teaching and referal hospital in Homa Bay town. Besides of the staff at the left in the photo, Anna Matsson, hospital coordinator at Lycksele Hospital, Dr. Gordon Okoma, director at department of health in Homa Bay County and Lena Bitén-Forsberg, head of Tärnaby primary health care center are in this photo.