MED25 International

Target demographics: MED25’s principle of providing healthcare to communities most in need led us to focus on a health clinic in Kisui, one of the villages in Mbita. Our clinic serves as the base for reaching the larger Mbita area, farming communities in the hills as well as fishing communities along Lake Victoria. To ensure a healthy population, we reach one patient at a time, sometimes 50-60 patients a day at our clinic. Our reach is expanded through the Community Health Workers who serve an average of 350 households, over 2,000 individuals in one community. Learn more about the patients we treat through our Monthly Treatment Report.

Geographic areas served: Kenya is located in East Africa with a population of about 39.8 million, covering an area of 582,646 square kilometers (224,961 square miles). The major languages spoken in the country are Swahili and English, but the majority of the patients served at the MED25 clinic only speak their tribal language, Luo. The life expectancy is 54 years of age for men and 55 years of age for women. Some of the challenges Kenyans face daily include high crime rates especially in the urban areas, more than 56% of Kenyans live below the poverty line, prolonged droughts, and unemployment. Mbita District, the location of the MED25 Clinic, has a population of about 160,000 people. The average life expectancy is 37 years of age, and it has the highest HIV prevalence in Kenya with a rate of 30% compared to the national average of 6.7%. The majority of the Mbita population live along the lake in beach communities as the main economic activity is fishing.

Programs: Founded in 2006, MED25 currently focuses its work on Kenya’s Mbita District, where it provides quality, affordable, and culturally appropriate clinic services and preventive health interventions to more than 1,000 patients each month. The clinic is a comprehensive care center that offers subsidized or free services including treatments for malaria, respiratory infections, dysentery, sexually transmitted diseases, and skin diseases as well as antenatal care. Ten community health workers (CHWs) conduct outreach care and support in surrounding villages. The organization is working to expand the reach of CHWs in their communities, and it will open a larger clinic to meet increased patient demand in 2014. To finance its operations, MED25 seeks support from individual, corporate, and institutional donors. But it is committed to implementing local and sustainable income-generating businesses to support its medical operations in the long term. Local surveys revealed the need for a mortuary and guest housing in Mbita, which will open in 2013. In three years, these facilities are expected to generate enough income to support the clinic’s operations. Founder and Executive Director Rebecca Okelo began volunteering in Africa while earning her BSN in Nursing from Seattle University. MED25’s initial work was in Ghana, where it implemented an HIV/AIDS clinic, nursery school, vocational school, and orphanage. The organization in 2009 turned its attention to Kenya, where Okelo now leads a staff of 24—all local people earning competitive wages. By engaging deeply with community partners, serving those most in need and most at risk, and investing in social businesses that can sustain themselves, MED25 is working successfully, one community at a time, to improve health and achieve long-lasting change.