As one of the representatives for Center for Rural Medicine, Region Västerbotten, Sweden, I was happy to host representatives for Kenya Lake Victoria frontiers counties in The County of Västerbotten June 11th-16th.
The team from the kenyan counties visited Sweden in the framework of a project named ”Partnership and Governance for Health and Resilience in Relation to Climate Change and Environment in Kisumu County and Other Counties Alongside Lake Victoria”.
The project is funded by Swedish International Centre for Local Democracy (ICLD) and will be finalized 2025, however with an ambition to continue working as partners.
The kenyan partners in the project are the county governments of Kisumu, Siaya, Busia, Homa Bay and Migori who are partners to Region Västerbotten and Umeå Municipality.
Other partners are research institutions in Kenya, Biosphere Area – Vindeln River-Juhtáthakka and Department of Epidemiology and Global Health, Umeå University, Sweden.
The partnership and project program in The County of Västerbotten in June aimed at providing the kenyan counties with opportunities for meeting all key-partners from The County of Västerbotten, to discuss how health and resilience can be strenghtened in relation to climate change and man-made environmental degradation, as well as in relation to other social determinants of health.
The program was comprehensive including presentations, dialogues, workshops and field visits, as well as a steering group meeting where decisions were taken for the next steps of the project.
The parties are very well aware that the project is very ambitious and challenging, however of fundamental importance for strengthening health and resilience in the kenyan counties who are partners in this collaboration. The project is also a learning opportunity for the parties from The County of Västerbotten, since climate change, environmental degradation and health also are challenges in Sweden, as well as in other countries.
I am contracted by the Centre for Rural Medicine as project manager and senior advisor to support the partners in this collaboration.
The program in June was a successful one.
The photo in this post is of Dr. Kennedy Ochieng Otieno, Department of Health, Kisumu County Government, Kenya, who introduced a number of partners from Västerbotten to information about the realities in the Lake Victoria Basin Area.