Framework for One Health service in Turkana, Kenya

Pastoralists in Eastern Africa have limited access to public services because of economic and political marginalisation and limited health infrastructure in dryland areas. Kenya has institutionalised One Health at national level to integrate human and animal health service delivery but progress at subnational level has been limited because of sustainability concerns, competing priorities and insufficient coordination. The paper “A One Health framework for integrated service delivery in Turkana County, Kenya” by Evan Griffith et al, published in 2020 in Pastoralism: Research, Policy and Practice 10:7 (doi.org/10.1186/s13570-020-00161-6), presents a One Health framework (OHF) for implementing integrated human and animal health policies. It draws on results of semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with human health, animal health and pastoralist stakeholders. Community members identified inadequate engagement with the public sector as a major limitation. Contributing factors were distance to health facilities and restricted department capacities, e.g. availability of vehicles and personnel and maintenance of the cooling chain. The proposed OHF harnesses the existing structure of service delivery in Turkana and sets up a coordination mechanism to implement One Health activities by means of mobile “One Health Huduma Centres” that offer a range of public services.

Posted on 27 April 2020 in Pastoralism & Services, Pastoralism, Mobility & Land Tenure