A sneak peek at our new program with Dr. Kirui: A health champion in rural Kenya
Dr. Kirui with the telehealth device in a shipping crate as it arrived on-site in Kenya.
As a young boy living in a village in the Southern Rift Valley of Kenya, Dr. Weldon Kirui frequently saw his family and community suffering without access to medical care. There was no healthcare provider nearby. They only had an herbalist who came by to give them herbal medicines and perform clandestine deliveries in the villages, which often led to unnecessary deaths. This is the case for many people in Kenya, where the physician to population ratio is just 0.157 physicians per 1,000 people—much less than the 1:1,000 ratio recommended by the World Health Organization.
Dr. Kirui decided that becoming a physician was the best thing he could do to help his community. After studying at Dartmouth College and the University of Nairobi, he is now a general practitioner at Longisa County Referral Hospital. He has dedicated his life to providing quality healthcare for patients in rural Kenya. “What motivates me in this practice is seeing patients who could otherwise not survive, come back and say thank you for either saving them or their relatives.”
Longisa is a village in the Southern part of Kenya’s Great Rift Valley. Its unique geography has created a rich ecosystem full of active volcanoes, lakes, and incredible biodiversity. It is one of the reasons this area of Kenya is famous for its extraordinary wildlife. It also provides quality soil for the people there to grow crops. In Longisa, most people are farmers who produce dairy, tea, livestock, and more. It is a very rural area—only 4.3% of the population has electricity, and 5% of roads are paved (USAid Kenya).
Dr. Kirui is pictured on the right with the Governor (center) and county Minister of Health (left).
The local hospital, Longisa County Referral Hospital, serves over a half million people. Yet, the shortage of medical specialists makes it difficult for patients to access many necessary health services. Dr. Kirui shares that “the challenge is having access to basic and specialized healthcare. Referrals are a distance away.” Because much of the population lacks access to transportation, traveling to another hospital can be a significant barrier. Only 30% of Kenya’s rural population has access to health facilities within 2.5 miles of their home, and 70% of the population lives in rural areas (International Trade Administration).
Longisa County Referral Hospital
As the on-site coordinator for World Telehealth Initiative’s new program at Longisa County Referral Hospital, Dr. Kirui is working to expand healthcare access for the community of Longisa and beyond. The program will provide bedside training, medical education opportunities, and mentorship for local clinicians. Physicians from Providence will support the program via virtual clinical mentorship in areas such as Critical Care, Oncology, Cardiology, and more.
According to Dr. Kirui, “The World Telehealth Initiative program will allow Longisa County Referral Hospital to interface with other clinicians outside the country to collaborate. The community will experience improved care and as we know: the health of a community is the health of a nation.”