Update from the Mfangano Community Health Field Station on COVID-19 Response
The EK Health Navigator team at their meeting in February 2020 ready to be deployed to provide emergency care.
Through the Mfangano Community Health Field Station, we are working with local and international collaborators to help the remote communities of Lake Victoria prepare their COVID-19 response.
In accordance with Kenyan Ministry of Health and UMN guidelines, we have closed down activities at the EK Center, suspended student travel to Mfangano, and have also suspended in-person recruitment and data collection activities for our ongoing MOMENTUM Study.
Yet our mission remains active. Our research team has shifted gears to focus on MOMENTUM data cleaning and data analysis. UMN MPH students are now teaming up with staff at the EK Center to support our Health Navigator network in distributing accurate COVID information to their rural villages. We are also working with UMN students in the Master's in Development Practice to support the EK FM Radio station in providing on-air resources for community resilience and community health education.
This is a critical time to bridge distance with solidarity, to overcome uncertainty with adaptivity, and to empower one another with information and communication. As we say in Suba: Turi alala (We are together!).
Updates from the Field
Our Updates from the Field Series features messages from the people around the world that are dedicated to the programs of the Center for Global Health and Social Responsibility.