Implementing a community rotation to the internship training in Kenya: barriers and enablers.

Community placements among trainee doctors have proven beneficial in understanding community problems, the role of primary care in health, and increasing the likelihood of pursuing a primary care career, albeit with some challenges. In 2020, Kenya started community rotations as part of the mandatory internship programme. This study aimed to describe the experiences among medical interns and their educational supervisors during the rotation from which insights on how to improve the community rotation may be drawn. A qualitative analysis of 13 in-depth interviews carried out among medical interns and their supervisors was undertaken in the first year of the implementation of the community rotation. Factors that enabled a successful rotation were an increased awareness amongst interns about patient health in the context of the community, presence of existing primary care structures, and the use of technology for patient follow-up during the COVID-19 pandemic. Conversely, challenges experienced by participants included insufficient communication prior to implementing the community health rotation, limited community health exposure among medical graduates before the internship, and fear of contracting or spreading COVID-19. The study identified opportunities to improve the community rotation through stakeholder engagement, timely government communication, and strengthening undergraduate medical training in community health competencies.

Reimagining nutrition education for pregnant adolescents in the face of climate change: a community approach.

Objectives: To explore challenges with current nutrition education for teenage pregnant women in a drought-prone community in Kenya and to elicit the communities' suggestions on how to best adapt it in the face of climate change. Design: Nine serial focus group discussions (four with adolescents, two with their parents, two with community health volunteers and one with healthcare workers) were conducted on a purposively selected study population in Kaloleni, Kilifi County, Kenya. Data collection took place between March and November 2022, with a total of 73 participants. An inductive approach was used, and interpretive thematic coding was done as the primary analytic strategy to allow themes derived from participants' reflections. Results: First, participants reported that unpredictable rainfall patterns had affected nutrition intake and variety due to reduced yield from farmland, diseases in livestock and insufficient income. Second, participants reported barriers to accessing nutrition education, as it was mainly given in clinics and not targeted at adolescents or men. Third, they experienced challenges in applying nutrition education in daily life due to a mismatch between available foods and cultural practices. Recommendations for the future encompassed equipping individuals with practical cooking skills tailored to available nutrients, initiatives aimed at water conservation and addressing animal health concerns, enhancing accessibility through community-based training programmes and fostering collaborative efforts to ensure the provision of essential nutrients. Conclusion: Food choices in Kilifi County are getting more limited due to unpredicted rainfall patterns. Therefore, a reorientation of nutrition education is needed in order to build resilience in the community. Strengthening community action, including developing skills to increase long-term local support, would be needed to ensure the adequate nutrition status of vulnerable groups like pregnant adolescent women.

Overdue Assignment: A Case Study on Academic Writing Development for Postgraduate Health Professional Trainees in Kenya.

OBJECTIVES: Though essential for research capacity building, development of authorial identity for thesis projects and publications has been overlooked in African postgraduate residency programs. This study aims to explore authorial identity among postgraduate health professional trainees at two universities in Kenya. It also evaluated the effect of Age of Acquisition of English on confidence in writing. METHODS: This exploratory case study utilized quantitative and qualitative data. Pre- and post-workshop surveys were generated from learning objectives and evaluated confidence in writing and plagiarism awareness, both important attributes of authorial identity. As confidence in writing might be influenced by the English Age of Acquisition, the questionnaire also included items from the Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire. Pre- and post-workshop responses were analyzed using planned comparisons. Focus group discussions further explored authorial identity among participants and were analyzed thematically. RESULTS: A total of 57 postgraduate trainees from nine medical specialties participated in the study. Both confidence in writing and plagiarism awareness improved significantly after the workshop: confidence in writing pre-test (M = 3.20, SD = 0.59) and post-test (M = 3.97, SD = 0.61), t(56) = 6.93, P < .001, d = 0.9; plagiarism awareness pre-test (M = 3.01, SD 0.72) and post-test (M = 3.92, SD 0.65), t(56) = 6,8, P < .001, d = 0.9. The average English Age of Acquisition was 4.98 years and showed no correlation with confidence in writing. Participants recognized that authentic authorship requires hard work and suggested plagiarism is driven by inadequate writing instruction. They proposed that changing perceptions of research and writing could overcome a graduation requirement mindset among trainees. CONCLUSIONS: Interactive workshops using procedural and enculturation approaches may be useful to develop authorial identity among postgraduate health professionals in Kenya. Further research is needed on evaluating workshop effectiveness using direct indicators of learning and other curricular reforms to promote authorship.

Climate change poses a threat to nutrition and food security in Kilifi County, Kenya.

Over the last decades, increased emission of greenhouse gases has led to hot weather extremes, heavy precipitation and worsening of agricultural and ecological droughts. Although Africa's contribution to climate change is minimal, the continent is especially vulnerable to its effects. This report aims to describe the effect of climate change leading to drought in Kilifi County, Kenya, and the communities' experiences of this effect on food availability. During their community rotation, residents from a university in Nairobi, Kenya, evaluated changes in weather patterns and nutrition indicators in Kilifi County and conducted focus group discussions (FGDs) with community members and health care stakeholders to explore challenges in access to adequate nutrition and possible local solutions. Kilifi County has one of the highest rates of undernutrition in Kenya, with one in five under-5 children being underweight. County data showed that rainfall in the last 4 years has become increasingly unpredictable, resulting in reduced household milk production, one of the indicators of nutrition security. Three major themes emerged from the FGDs: lack of food variety, collapse of drought mitigating projects and increasing poverty levels. Possible solutions to these problems include promoting alternatives to the current diet that are culturally sensitive and adaptable to recent climate changes, ensuring continuity of agricultural and financial support projects and improved local leadership and governance.

HIV stigma in Kenya: A family medicine led community orientated primary care approach.

The Kenyan Ministry of Health envisages that family physicians should play an important role in the implementation of community orientated primary care (COPC) in collaboration with the community health team. The Kenyan Community Health Strategy forms a solid basis for the implementation of the COPC model. Residents and faculty of the Family Medicine department at the Aga Khan University Hospital Nairobi collaborated with the Kaloleni sub-county of Kilifi County government near Mombasa in a five-step COPC process to better understand and act against the high prevalence of HIV stigma in the coastal region. Firstly, a deeper understanding of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) stigma was acquired through community visits and work in the comprehensive care clinic. Secondly, a collaborative implementation team was formed to design a targeted and feasible intervention. In a participatory approach, a two-step intervention was employed, firstly sensitising healthcare workers and community health volunteers (CHVs) on the high prevalence of HIV stigma in their community and educating them on HIV-related issues. Secondly, the information was disseminated to the community through home visits by CHVs, health talks and the set-up of an HIV support group at the facility. This short report illustrates the important contribution of family physicians to implementation of COPC and capacity building of the primary healthcare team.

Burden of upper respiratory tract infections in primary care facilities and excessive antimicrobial over-prescription: A community-oriented primary care project in rural Kenya.

During their community oriented primary care (COPC) rotation in rural coastal Kenya, residents of the Family Medicine programme at the Aga Khan University-Nairobi, identified a high burden of upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) in the dispensaries with high prescription of antimicrobials (AMs) in over 80% of the patients presenting with URTI. An interactive participatory education intervention, designed based on principles of community participation and capacity building, reduced AM prescription in the under 5-year age group with 44% in the 2 weeks after the intervention, and with 18% at week 8 and 9. In the over 5-year age group, this was reduced with 18% and 8%, respectively. Key challenges for upholding AM stewardship after the intervention included the high patient workload in the clinics, difficulties in addressing patient's concerns regarding the prognosis, inaccessibility to ingredients for home therapies, and easy availability of AMs without prescription at local chemists. Interventions addressing improper prescription at the facility level should include provision of continuous training, including communication training, for health facility staff, as well as audits on prescription practices. Collaboration with Community Health Volunteers (CHVs) can help in increasing community awareness on antimicrobial resistance (AMR). This study demonstrates the value of family physicians in clinical governance and improving the quality of care through implementation of guidelines and training. Joint action with the Kilifi county Ministry of Health and the private sector is needed to address mal-regulated access to AMs beyond health facility control.