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Evalyne’s story

A meeting with a mother in a village changed Janie Hayes’ conception of a country

Editor’s note: Janie Hayes is a communications officer at PATH. She traveled to Kenya in 2008.

During a visit to Kenya’s Western Province last year, I met Evalyne, a mother of two who lives in a small farming community in Bungoma District.

Evalyne was once a mother of three. But in 2004, she had an experience familiar to every parent in the world: her two-year-old son, Abel Juma, became sick with diarrhea. By the third day of his illness, Evalyne was worried enough to bundle him on her back for the walk to the nearest health clinic.

A long wait with a dying child

She arrived to find dozens of other patients—mostly other mothers with their children—already waiting. Her local clinic, an eight-room building staffed by only two doctors, serves a local population of more than 200,000 people.

Evalyne sat down on the ground to wait. Abel Juma had been vomiting, and she thought he felt lighter in her arms than usual. Hours went by, and still she hadn’t been called by clinic staff.

Evalyne knew she needed oral rehydration salts—a simple packet of electrolytes that could treat her son’s dehydration. But she also knew she couldn’t afford the 25 cents to purchase them at the private pharmacy around the corner.

Eventually, Evalyne left the clinic. She was out of options, and time was short. Her son was getting sicker.

Abel Juma died the next day.

No child should die of diarrhea

No child should die of diarrhea. But it’s something than tens of thousands of Kenyan parents experience each year.

Last year, my team at PATH had a chance to take direct action to change things for Evalyne’s community. We helped the local health clinic in Bungoma create a special corner where kids like Abel Juma can get immediate treatment, even when no doctor is available.

With the purchase of a table, a few chairs, and the equipment needed to administer oral rehydration solution—cups, a heating plate, a timer—we helped create a place where children who arrive with diarrhea can immediately access oral rehydration solution.

Simple, effective, and immediate change

Building rehydration corners isn’t the only thing PATH does to address diarrheal disease. Our approach is multifaceted—the only way to shrink the gaps in behaviors and access that keep caregivers and community members like Evalyne from seeing their children lead healthy lives.

But establishing rehydration corners is one way to make a simple, effective, and immediate change that can save children’s lives right away. Our goal is to rebuild rehydration corners in every clinic in Kenya’s Western Province, which has the country’s second-highest child mortality rate—mainly because of diarrheal disease—by the end of this year.

We know what it looks like when a country can’t afford to protect its children. And we’re determined to help.

Photo: PATH/Janie Hayes.