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THE
MATIBABU FOUNDATION
The
Matibabu Foundation (“Matibabu”)
provides medical care, training and equipment
to residents of Ugenya, Kenya, an extremely
poor and disadvantaged area near Lake Victoria.
Matibabu is the Swahili word for “treatment.”
The Matibabu Foundation began after two of Matibabu’s
founders visited Kenya in 2003 and met Dan Ogola,
who had already established the Community Support
Group (CSG), operating in Nairobi, Kisumu and
Ugenya.
The people of Ugenya belong to the Luo tribe.
They are very poor, eking out a living as subsistence
farmers, working tiny plots of land to grow
corn and beans. They are polygamous, and, according
to Luo custom, if a husband dies, his wife/wives
must marry his brother.
About 40% of the population has active AIDS
or is HIV positive. In addition, local people
have suffered, or currently suffer, from malaria
and worms. Many also suffer from TB, typhoid,
tropical ulcers, trachoma, leprosy, severe scabies,
or fungal skin diseases. There are scattered
private and government-run hospitals, as well
as poorly-equipped and poorly-staffed clinics,
but few people can access them because of distance
and cost. The Luo are very well informed about
AIDS and TB, and the women in particular are
anxious to change some tribal customs that place
them at risk of AIDS – such as male promiscuity,
polygamy, wife inheritance and men’s unwillingness
to use condoms – but there is a long way
to go.
Matibabu conducts numerous activities in Ugenya,
all with the aid and support of local personnel
and groups, including health officials, provincial
administrators, community organizations, churches,
chiefs and village elders. Our programs include:
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Clinics by U.S.
Medical Professionals: Matibabu’s
U.S. medical professionals visit Ugenya periodically
to conduct free clinics and perform surgery.
The Matibabu medical professionals all volunteer
their time, and no fees are charged to the
Ugenyan patients.
- Permanent
Matibabu Foundation Clinic:
We have established the Matibabu Foundation
Clinic and voluntary AIDS counseling and testing
center in Ukwala, Ugenya. Our clinic is a
government-approved voluntary counseling and
testing center staffed indigenously with a
full-time doctor, a clinical officer, a nurse,
a pharmacist, a lab technician, and government-certified
HIV counselors.
- Deworming
Project:
We have begun a project to eradicate round
worms in schoolchildren. Our pilot project
has successfully operated at 20 schools, and
we plan to expand it to all schools in Ugenya.
- Malaria
Project:
We distribute insecticide-treated mosquito
nets for bedtime use by pregnant women and
small children, to protect them from malaria.
Also we offer testing for malaria and treatment
with coartem, an expensive but effective medication.
Recently the Government of Kenya agreed to
supply coartem to us at no charge and we are
hopeful that in the future they will also
help us by supplying bednets.
- HIV/AIDS
Programs:
In addition to the Matibabu Foundation Clinic,
which serves as an AIDS treatment and counseling
center, we conduct numerous outreach programs
within the community to provide education,
counseling, treatment, and healthful choices,
particularly for youth and women. We now have
a flow cytometer and can determine when antiretroviral
drugs are needed. We have formed a partnership
with the Kenyan ministry of Health and the
American CDC to provide drug treatment for
AIDs patients.
- Internally
Displaced Persons:
The recent strife surrounding the disputed
December 2007 elections in Kenya has displaced
many Kenyans from their homes and left them
without resources. Matibabu Foundation is
attempting to set up a program to give these
internally displaced persons health services
at no cost.
To date the main sources of Matibabu’s
funding have been doctors participating in our
work, together with some financial help from
interested friends. Our U.S. medical personnel
have hailed mostly from Kaiser Permanente, but
all volunteers are welcome.
Our
Current Projects
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Matibabu
Foundation
Box 1028
4200 Park Blvd.
Oakland, CA 94602
+1 925.348.9425 |
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Extending
Health Services to the People |
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