Kenya Aid - Fighting the Causes of Poverty in Kenya
Young Australian of the Year 2011 Nominee - Dr Ryan Snaith
Kenya Aid's founder and president, Dr Ryan Snaith is a graduate from the University of Sydney's Medical Program and is currently an Anaesthetic Junior Medical Officer (JMO) at Nepean Hospital, in Sydney's West. Ryan has an interest in community health and is currently studying for his Masters in International Public Health. Holdsworth House are proud to support Kenya Aid in the truly inspirational and selfless activities that they are undertaking. We are also pleased with the recognition of Ryan and Kenya Aid's achievements at the NSW finals of the Australian of the Year Awards for 2011.
Kenya Aid is a not-for-profit organisation registered in Australia, committed to reducing the burden of disease and improving the quality of health services in developing countries. The organisation's president, Dr Ryan Snaith, founded Kenya Aid after completing his elective placement in remote Kenya during his undergraduate medical study. This experience alerted Ryan to the poverty and poor health conditions facing people in the area.
Ryan and the Kenya Aid team are assisting the remote Western Kenyan community of Shikunga to sustainably improve their health services by building a medical clinic, establishing vaccine programs and implementing projects such as SHARE. The SHARE project teaches women to make their own washable menstrual pads, and in turn improves their educational outcomes as girls are able to attend school more regularly. Kenya Aid has also worked with the Shikunga community to develop basic infrastructure including a reliable road network, running water and connecting the village to the electricity grid. Within Australia, Ryan has challenged his colleagues, peers, and emerging health care professionals to look beyond our own privileged circumstances and dare to make a difference in a developing country.
Working together with the local community and local Kenyan Non Governmental Organisations over the last three years, Kenya Aid have developed and opened a primary health clinic servicing the Shikunga rural community. Since then, they have been providing low-cost health care to those in Kenya's poorest region and are determined to continue, expand and improve the following life-saving services:
- Primary health care service
- Annual medical camps
- Malaria reduction program
- HIV VCT program
- Immunisation program
- Community based health care education and prevention
- Training and education for local health care professionals
- Agriculture program
In addition to their focus on health care provision, Kenya Aid also places an emphasis on education for preventative health strategies. This includes simple measures such as improving hygiene, sanitation and nutrition. They also take a community based approach to tackling the three biggest killers in the region: HIV, tuberculosis and malaria, by raising awareness and introducing specific prevention methods. Kenya Aid believes that knowledge is one of the keys to lasting change. A new direction is being forged with future plans to build an AIDS hospice in the Shikunga village, alongside the newly built Shikunga clinic. This aims to provide dignity and medical support to terminally ill HIV sufferers.
Kenya Aid and Holdsworth House Medical Practice share a passion for fighting the burden of HIV and AIDS. Our combined vision is to provide rural Kenya with quality health care, and also to promote education for preventative health strategies. Kenya Aid's focus is to optimise the model health care clinic in Shikunga, and then to expand the health care network to other areas of need in Western Kenya.
For more information about Kenya Aid, or to make a donation, go to: www.kenyaaid.org