Afya Elimu Fund Is Boosting Kenya ’s Health Workforce—and Reigniting a Young Mother’s Dream

November 09, 2017Affordable loans are helping students like Beatrice stay in school.For 19-year-old Beatrice Mudhai, the youngest child in a family of 10, money has always been stretched. So much so that she had to wait three years before joining college. During the gap years, Beatrice conceived her first child, Norelle.“It was one of the most difficult times in my life, a mixed bag of joy and gloom,” Beatrice says. “I was glad to be a mother, but not ready to marry the father of my child, as we were both very young with no means to support the child.”At this time, Beatrice was living inLandi Mawe in Nairobi ’s Eastlands area, with her sister.“During my pregnancy, I had to fend for my sister and myself by selling groceries at the local market,” she says.A new mother in nursing schoolDetermined to further her education, in March 2011, Beatrice left her young baby in her mother ’s care and enrolled at Mukumu School of Nursing, Kakamega, to pursue her dream—a diploma in nursing.Kenya has an acute shortage of health workers, which seriously undermines the country ’s ability to achieve universal health coverage. The health worker-to-population ratio stands at 1.54 to 1,000, while the World Health Organization recommends at least 2.3 to 1,000.Kenya needs more health workers.The country needs more health workers graduating from health professional programs and joining the workforce. Unfortunately, 42% of the population lives below the poverty line, and college ed...
Source: IntraHealth International - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Source Type: news