By Alie Eleveld | Founder SWAP and Technical Advisor
Introduction
Safe Water and AIDS Project (SWAP) has been operating in Western Kenya since 2005 with public health programs, research and emergency response. SWAP's mission is to provide innovative solutions for improved health and economic status of communities.
SWAP has a wealth of experience in public health interventions and has worked in collaboration with County Health Management Teams to respond to COVID-19 especially with focus on health care facilities supporting and protecting the frontline work force and the community at large from COVID-19 spread.
For that reason, the GlobalGiving platform was used to source for crowd funding from donors and well-wishers in our effort to protect health workers, reduce the COVID-19 spread and mitigate the impact.
Production of Alcohol Based Hand Rub (ABHR)
SWAP’s lab team actively continued with ABHR production to combat the spread of COVID-19, in the month of December 2023, a total of 250 liters of ABHR was produced and packed in readiness for centralized distribution to all 47 health facilities within Nyando and Nyakach sub-counties in Kisumu County. The production unit uses WHO formula for the production and had received renewal of its permit to produce for another two years after passing all the quality tests.
SWAP had submitted several samples of ABHR to the Kenya Bureau of Standards to facilitate the renewal of our permit for production of ABHR. This was granted 17th November before the previous expiry date of the permit. The samples all passed the quality checks.
The distribution model was changed into a more sustainable model whereby the ABHR were taken to the Central store and health workers were requested on monthly basis to come when they would come for their usual meetings and collect the ABHR. This was changed from visiting each health facility on monthly basis which became expensive and time consuming. The sanitizers were packed in 500ml bottles for all 47 health care facilities for Nyando and Nyakach Sub Counties. Each Health Care Facility is entitled to a specific number of bottles depending on the number of patient care areas they have. In the first quarter of the year a total of 351 liters of ABHR was dispatched and its ongoing distribution to the health care facilities monitored.
STREAM Chlorine generators at Health Care Facilities
The lab team trained and installed STREAM disinfectant generators at 8 health care facilities for infection prevention and control. This generates chlorine using salt and water and supports facilities to reduce hospital acquired infections and mitigates the spread of COVID-19. Chlorine is used for cleaning surfaces, treating water and disinfecting laundry. The Hospitals used to have interrupted supplies of the same and can now make their own. On average each facility produces up to 1000 liters of chlorine per month and they support the surrounding smaller dispensaries and health centers.
Our team visits the facility on monthly basis for trouble shooting, on the job training and monitoring of its use and distribution. The facilities who were provided the STREAM disinfectant generators are located in all sub counties of Kisumu County. The STREAM has been an essential asset for infection prevention and control and is very cost effective.
COVID 19 Waste Water Based Epidemiology Research
With technical support from the University of Illinois at Chicago SWAP continued testing waste water for COVID-19. A PCR testing kit was donated and intensive training on standard operating procedures and sampling was done. On weekly basis the lab team in collaboration with the public health officers and representatives of the Kisumu Water and Sanitation Company collects samples from waste water treatment plants, Hospitals, lagoons, prisons, markets and other hot spot areas and analyses the waste water. All positive samples are further taken to the Walter Reed Lab for genomic sequencing. All data from this is entered into a COVID 19 Data base and is helping with mathematical modeling and projections of COVID-19. This research has been stopped mid-March 2023due to very few positive COVID-19 cases at the moment. It has however really helped with the surveillance and planning for interventions.
Hand Hygiene Management Guidelines
SWAP participated in the development of hand hygiene management guidelines which was identified as a gap during our interventions during COVID-19 response. The guidelines were disseminated during two meetings involving county and sub county public health officers and Water. Sanitation and Hygiene Coordinators and end users. The development of this was done with several health stakeholders.
Sato Pan Donation
SWAP received previously funding to install SATO Pan in 47 Health Care Facilities. This was to improve the toilets used by health workers and patients. Last week due to community demand SWAP received 3000 SATO pans to serve the communities around the health care facilities. The SATO pan is a toilet pan that uses mechanical and water seals to close off pit latrines from open air. This prevents flies and other disease transmitting insects from coming into contact with the waste. The pan weighted trap door opens and closes automatically when the toilet is in use and also eliminates smells keeping the toilet smelling fresh. Waste is flushed away with as little as 200 ml water. SWAP trained artisans who can install this in the toilets of the community.
WE THANK YOU FOR YOUR ONGOING SUPPORT AND DONATIONS
Links:
By Alie Eleveld | Founder SWAP and Technical Advisor
By Alie Eleveld | Founder SWAP and Technical Advisor
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can recieve an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
