Access Afya
Grant
“Integrated community healthcare for slums”
Access Afya runs a chain of micro-clinics in Nairobi’s slums.
Access Afya runs a chain of micro-clinics in Nairobi’s slums. Our vision is a networked system of community-based healthcare access points that provide consistent, quality services and medication to low-income Kenyans and beyond. We currently run two clinics and a primary care program in two schools, reaching thousands of Nairobi’s slum dwellers.
Summary
Around 60% of urban Kenyans live in slums. Here, healthcare options are inconvenient, unreliable, with appealing options as unaffordable. Residents in the slums choose between crowded, under-resourced facilities and informal chemists, who sell pills but not healthcare. The drugs that residents purchase from these unregulated, under-qualified chemists often are counterfeit or expired.
We are customizing a solution that speaks directly to this market. By setting up micro-clinics directly into slums between fruit sellers and homes, we make care convenient and through our training and customer care program, we make it a lot more friendly and comfortable.
We are raising funds to expand our work through additional field-based sites including employer health points for informal workers and chronic care management groups. We are also raising money to support our third site.
Social Impact
“At Access Afya you are given a consultation first. Others don’t consult or even talk to you, they just give you drugs.” – Christine Mbithe
We are changing people’s expectations of what they have a right to expect from their care providers, integrating conversations, education, and advise on prevention. This long-term change is our ultimate impact.
To have this impact, we must reach many people. We have over 3,500 clients in our community, all who are paying an affordable rate for their care, which will make this over time sustainable. These people range from mothers who are taking children in for immunizations to young women seeking advice and services for family planning, to adults needing dressings or stitching for their wounds. By offering comprehensive primary care, we speak to the whole community.
We have over 100 children in our Healthy Schools program. When we started the program, 25% of children needed a referral to the clinic. Due to health and nutrition interventions we saw enrollment go from 69% to 93% in one of our schools, and school enrollment went up when the community learned about the program.
At Access Afya, we believe the future of health is decentralized care in convenient community locations. Our model addresses problems earlier, teaches prevention, and meets patients where they already are. As a Nairobi-based private sector social enterprise, we can learn quickly and adapt our model to our clients' preferences.
For more information: PDF presentation
Note
*This is a grant. Grants do not provide principal or a financial return back to your SharedImpact account.
